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Sports by FFWD Staff City disc golfers are having a hard time finding somewhere to play this year after a series of blows that they fear jeopardizes their sport’s existence. The latest incident revolves around Canmore Park, at the west end of Confederation Park. Kim Babcock, disc golf co-ordinator for the Alberta Disc Sport Association, says some community members are angry about a new course at the park, approved by the city and the Triwood and Banff Trail community associations for a six-month trial period. Since it opened three weeks ago, she says the baskets have been vandalized and players have been verbally abused. "(The course) might have to be pulled within the next week. It’s come down to being a very unsafe place for disc golfers to be," she says."It’s really unfortunate because they’re not giving us an opportunity to give this six-month trial a go." If the disc golfers have to pick up and move, it will be the second time in a month. Recently, the longtime course at Pearce Estates Park in Inglewood was relocated from its five-acre site to a one-acre area, and reduced from 18 holes to nine. Babcock estimates that 3,000 players went through the Pearce Estates course during the summer, ranging from young families to seniors. "It’s geared to anyone and everyone because it’s such an inexpensive sport to play," she adds, noting that the only equipment required is a disc, and there’s no fee to play. The sport is based on the same concept as ball golf – the disc is thrown from a tee-off box towards a target, such as a tall metal basket or other object. The Pearce Estates course had to be moved to make way for a new wetlands project, which progressed faster than the city expected, and Babcock says the smaller course is only guaranteed up to July, when further expansion of the wetlands project may push it out of the park altogether, which is what led to the trial at Canmore Park. "It’s a huge, super park.... That’s the only place we have left." Don Patrician, an athletic co-ordinator for Calgary Parks & Recreation, says the initial recommendation from city council in 1998 was to allow the 18-hole course at Pearce Estates to remain in place for up to five years, depending on the schedule of the wetlands project. Now that it’s under way, he expects the sport will no longer be allowed in the park after this season. Parks and Recreation helped in the search for a replacement, and Canmore Park appeared to be suitable. However, Patrician says residents are concerned about a number of issues, such as safety, liability, and the protection of the park’s natural environment. If the course is removed, he believes it will be difficult to find another site with the bushes, trees and undulating terrain required. "The city of Calgary just doesn’t have the natural obstacles that this sport needs to exist," he says. Craig Burrows-Johnson of the Professional Disc Golf Association says players are in a bit of a bind. He explains that the situation at Pearce Estates has contributed to the problems at Canmore Park because not only is the Pearce Estates course smaller, but the extent of the construction makes the park appear closed. "So what’s been happening is that virtually everybody who was playing at Pearce Estates has heard about (Canmore Park) and they’re showing up there," he says. "We’re getting way, way, way more people there than we had planned for." He would like to see the problems at Canmore Park resolved, and says the association has offered to compromise by restricting the weight of the discs and limiting play to off-peak hours when the park is less populated. He also points out that the players had a great relationship with the Inglewood and Ramsay communities surrounding Pearce Estates. "It was working fantastic. In fact, the sport had really grown in the last few years," he says. If it can’t be worked out, Burrows-Johnson fears that the controversy will make the search for a permanent home even harder. "It’s going to be extraordinarily difficult to go into another park and get support from the community association," he says. "I think, clearly, the future of the sport in Calgary is up in the air." A meeting will be held Monday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the Triwood Community Association.

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