A disc golf basket overlooking the outdoor volleyball courts at Bowen Park. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

MORE SAND COURTS

Beach volleyball, disc golf competing for space at Nanaimo’s Bowen Park

Oct 23, 2021 | 7:00 AM

NANAIMO — Deteriorating facilities and a neighbouring sport competing for space is putting a squeeze on the ability for local beach volleyball players to play.

The Mariners Volleyball Club (MVC) made a pitch to the City’s finance and audit committee on Wednesday, Oct. 20 to expand on four existing outdoor volleyball spaces at Bowen Park.

Rick Bevis, MVC technical director, told the committee they’d like to see three courts added to the space on Wall St. as well as address accessibility issues, upgrade equipment and improve safety for players.

“Disc golf has exploded in popularity through COVID as well and we actually tracked how many times our athletes and coaches were hit by discs and how many times [discs] came on the sand.”

A popular disc golf course runs through the trees at Bowen Park and Bevis described the current sharing of space as getting “dangerous” for volleyball players dodging rogue discs.

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Bevis said their proposal would make the area safer for both sports.

Some parking spaces would be sacrificed to add the additional courts.

The neighbouring disc golf course at Bowen Park (shown roughly overlaid on an area map, is causing conflict with local volleyball players. (City of Nanaimo map/NanaimoNewsNOW illustration)

The courts were originally built in the fall of 2003. However, in recent years, larger beach volleyball competitions were moved to Parksville with Nanaimo’s courts deemed unsuitable.

“We have a lot of people in the volleyball community that travel to Parksville several times a week,” Bevis said. “They’re travelling and their dollars are being spent in Parksville because they have a facility there that has 30 courts. They’ve developed a culture there.”

Bevis estimated about 600 people are involved in the volleyball program in Parksville and anywhere from a third to half of them are from Nanaimo.

Around 300 people are currently involved in the MVC and Bevis said the extended courts could have about 800 regular users.

As part of the club’s pitch, they suggested maintenance on the courts is low compared to other recreation facilities, with most of the work done by the club itself.

The primary cost in developing new courts is importing the right sand, which the club would care for by adding windscreens to minimize sand loss.

Early estimates on cost for the project are around $200,000 on the high end, however the MVC suggested they would contribute financially to see work done.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow