Excuses, excuses. We come up with as many as we can when it comes to exercise and keeping healthy and active. You’ll hear people say they don’t like going to the gym, riding a bike or taking walks, which is fine. It’s understandable. Just don’t ever let anyone tell you there are no options in Cornwall to get involved in sports.
Our city is overflowing with sport groups, associations and clubs for kids and adults. No matter how old or young you are, Cornwall can offer you a variety of sports to play to help you along the path to a healthy lifestyle. These options include indoor and outdoor sports.
Let’s start with the most obvious of all: the Benson Centre. It boasts three hockey rinks that can also be used for lacrosse and more, a tennis court and a field house that’s used for soccer and now, Zumba. Yes, Zumba classes are now being held at the Benson Centre in the field house. Councillor Bernadette Clement even mentioned at the latest council meeting how neat it is to have hundreds of people doing Zumba at the Benson Centre. Summer day camps for children ages 6 to 12 started July 4 and run until August 12. Simply visit the City of Cornwall website to register.
Here are some more sporting options in Cornwall, this time outdoors. We have many pools in our beautiful parks. There are tennis courts in most of these parks and throughout the city. You can hit the courts in the east end of town at Mattice, Kinsmen and Joe St. Denis parks and in the west end at Broadview, Riverdale, St. Francis de Sales and Terry Fox parks. The best thing about these courts is it doesn’t cost a penny to play on them.
Don’t like tennis, how about swimming or curling. The Aquatic Centre is open year round and the Cornwall Curling Club is right beside it. The NAV Centre also has an Olympic size pool that can be used at a very low cost. The Cornwall Sea Lions Swimming, which is hosting a multisport camp, is available for kids and young adults.
If your child is not sure what sport they like, check out the variety of groups they can choose from. For softball and baseball there’s Kinsmen Minor Girls’ softball, Optimist Minor Mixed softball and Cornwall & District Minor baseball. For hockey leagues there’s the Cornwall Minor as well as the Seaway Valley Minor hockey associations and Cornwall Girls’ hockey.
Although it would take pages and pages to name all the sporting organizations in Cornwall, here’s a few more. The Cornwall Minor Football Association (Wildcats), the Cornwall Figure Skating Club, the Basketball Association, Minor Lacrosse, Mixed Martial Arts, the Gymnastics Club, minor soccer and minor ball hockey.
For adults there are many organised and pickup hockey leagues to choose from. In the summer, you have the Commercial Mixed softball league, the Cornwall & District fastball league, the Cornwall Men’s Slo-Pitch League, men’s league soccer and more. There are many golfing options as well. Archie’s, Summerheights and Cornwall Golf & Country Club are appropriate for all ages and each offers its own unique golfing options.
Oh yes, in the winter, you can hit the slopes at the Big Ben Ski Centre or put on the blades at seven different hockey rinks.
If you ask your parents or grandparents, they’ll tell you Cornwall has always been a great sports town. Nothing has changed since their time and it has only gotten better. We even have Pickleball! So let’s get involved and in shape Cornwall. The options are endless.
