After nearly two decades, a South Surrey softball park has finally gotten renovations first approved by council in 2007.
The desperately needed and long-awaited upgrades and improvements were completed earlier this week, and the South Surrey White Rock Minor Softball Association (SSWRMSA) tried out the new Sunnyside Park fields and facilities Tuesday evening (May 12).
After a 19-year delay since Surrey council approved the 2007 master plan detailing the upgrades, planning for the renovation to the fields — deemed “unsafe” by park users in 2023 — got underway in late 2023, shortly after the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled against the City of Victoria, which tried to quash a complaint filed about a local girls’ softball association over the condition of sports fields.
The project has lived in the imagination of players, coaches, volunteers, and families for years, SSWRMSA president Thomas Bell said in an email, and everyone was elated to experience the inaugural games on the new diamonds.
“We have waited a very long time for this day,” Bell said. “Our players, coaches, volunteers, and fans have dreamed of having a true home for decades. To finally bring our teams back to Sunnyside and see these new diamonds full of life is something very special.”
There was no ceremony or formal opening, Bell shared. The association received notice early Tuesday morning that three of the four new diamonds were ready for use. Within hours, SSWRMSA leadership reshaped the game schedule, reassigned teams, and brought athletes home to Sunnyside Park, Bell continued.
By late afternoon, five diamonds were operating at 100 per cent capacity, filled with players eager to take the field and families thrilled to witness the first games on the new surfaces, Bell said, noting that the entire league has had to play and practice at schoolyards, gravel lots and borrowed diamonds for two years, in order for the renovations to be completed.
“After two seasons of playing and practising all over the place, on every patch of dirt and every blade of grass we could find, to finally stand on these new fields is a moment of pride for our entire community.”
Coaches adapted weekly, parents drove across the city, and players learned to be flexible, resilient, and patient, Bell continued, but was pleased Tuesday’s triumphant return to Sunnyside Park marked the end of SSWRMSA’s nomadic chapter and the beginning of a new era.
The renovated diamonds feature modern playing surfaces, improved drainage, upgraded dugouts, new fencing, and a layout designed specifically for youth softball; the facility now stands as one of the finest community softball venues in the region, Bell shared.
Bell expressed deep appreciation for the City of Surrey’s commitment to completing the long-promised project.
“We are truly grateful to the City of Surrey for making this dream come true,” he said. “These fields will support thousands of young athletes for many years. This is an investment in community, in sport, and in the future of our players.”
As the sun set on the first day of play, the diamonds were still buzzing with energy. Players laughed in the dugouts, coaches smiled from the baselines, and families lingered along the fences, soaking in a moment that had been nearly twenty years in the making, Bell concluded.
“Sunnyside Park is home again.”