City Services Over Easter Weekend In The City of Peterborough
/Over the Easter weekend, many City facilities and services will be operating under holiday hours between April 7 and April 10.
file photo.
Peterborough Blogs
Former Fleming College Athletics Coordinator Inducted Into OCAA Hall of Fame
/Former Fleming College Athletics Coordinator Fred Batley is among the newest inductees to the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Hall of Fame.
fred batley. photo courtesy of fleming college.
Batley was recognized this week in the Builder category for his effort, influence, commitment, dedication and passion for collegiate sports at Fleming College.
An employee in Fleming’s Athletics Department for 42 years, Batley was committed to ensuring the student-athlete experience was a priority and front of mind, often noting the importance of doing what it takes to get the job done.
During his lengthy career, he took on numerous roles with the OCAA and Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) executive committees. His career included serving as OCAA President for two separate terms (1993-1995 and 2011-2013), serving as Past President (1995-1997) and sitting on the selection committee for numerous sports including Men's Hockey, Men's Basketball, Men's and Women's Soccer and Men's and Women's Volleyball. Batley was also the OCAA Men’s Rugby Convenor (2017) and Women’s Rugby Sevens Convenor (2018).
His work with the OCAA also included roles on the Constitution Committee, Eligibility Committee, Finance Committee and the Safety & Risk Management Committee.
Batley also served as a CCAA Convenor for a total of eight seasons, from 2008-2010 and again from 2014-2020. Prior to that, he was also a member of the CCAA Executive for nine years. Batley was the VP Governance (1999-2002), the CCAA President (2002-2006) and Past President (2006-2008).
Before retiring in 2019, he closed out his duties working not only as Athletic Coordinator at Fleming but as the Women’s Volleyball Convenor for the CCAA.
Backroom Briefing Q: Will Athletic Facilities Really Help Drive Population Growth?
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Q: The Mayor has been quoted as saying that there could be more population growth if the community had more “athletic facilities.” I believe that there is just such a link. Could you expand on this thinking? —Bill O’Byrne
Goyette: Bill is a regular and welcome visitor to our office, and the Chair of Sport Kawartha—an impressive organization with more than 30 sports group/associate members that launched in April of 2010 with a mandate to value, improve, recognize and promote sport participation in the region. You can see the savvy in the man: He quotes the Mayor and then seeks confirmation as a method of promotion. I like it.
The Mayor was responding in February to a report on the City’s growth. He said that we might consider building new sports facilities and other infrastructure to attract young families to the City.
The question has to do with the reasons people move to a new location. These can be divided into two categories: One is a set of “push” factors at the point of origin that trigger movement, such as a lack of economic or educational opportunity; personal issues such as divorce, retirement or a preference for independence; and cultural discomfort such as religious or political conflict or persecution. Another is a set of “pull” factors at the point of destination that attract movement, such as jobs, education, the presence of family or community, climate, and a host of personal perceptions of benign conditions. These are all tied to the stages and cycles of life, as well as psychological outlook. For many, the grass can easily look greener on the other side.
The research indicates that because of “distance decay,” people are more likely to move to places that are closer to them rather than further away. It also indicates that you are more likely to adopt a new hometown if you already know it. That means that people who move to Peterborough are statistically more likely to have come from somewhere nearby, and have been here before. The arrival here of people from the GTA and those who have prior cottage or rural experience would seem to bear this out.
Do athletic facilities rank highly as a drawing card for these newcomers? Not on their own, and not to the degree of other factors such as a new job. While they are probably more important in retention rather than attraction, they are undoubtedly part of the bundling of community benefits—the “infrastructure” that the Mayor referred to—that inform smart economic and tourism promotion. There is consensus that we have an entrenched deficit of sports facilities in the region, and the remedy for that, which is well underway, stands on its own merits as an issue of the quality of community life.
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David Goyette is the Executive Assistant to Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett. Email your burning questions for David about City Hall to feedback@ptbocanada.com.
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