Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY

Kamloops Sports Legacy Fund donates $500,000 to TRU WolfPack athletics

Mar 15, 2023 | 4:24 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s the biggest donation the Kamloops Sports Legacy Fund has ever given, as well as the biggest the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack has ever received.

On Wednesday (Mar. 15), members of the Sports Legacy Fund board presented TRU with a cheque for $500,000 for a brand-new training facility.

“I really like it because it does etch in stone the legacy part of what we do,” Kamloops Sports Legacy Fund President Brendan Martin explains. “How many leaders will come out of our community that have come through this facility?”

Of that money, $375,000 is earmarked for training equipment, with the remaining $125,000 for athletic scholarships. WolfPack Athletic Director Curtis Atkinson believes this donation will make TRU an even more attractive destination for top student-athletes.

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“It has to fit academically, it has to fit from a community perspective, but if we can deliver a framework where [athletes] can excel and develop to their full potential athletically, then it puts us in a much better position,” Atkinson explains. “This space allows us to do that.”

Ahead of the 2022-23 season, the WolfPack added its first full-time strength and conditioning coach, Aaron Chew. From his perspective, Chew believes this new space will help grow the program beyond just athletic performance.

“It’ll be a great cultural space for our program,” Chew says. “Just to give the athletes a common place to congregate and make friends, build relationships.”

For Martin and the rest of the Kamloops Sports Legacy Fund members, donations like this lay at the heart of the organization’s mission in the community.

“Our mission is to enhance and help supply equipment, help with further buildings, coaching, help grow sports,” Martin says. “That’s what we’re here to do.”

The donation will help pay for lifting stations, a speedwork track, and other important equipment within the facility. Construction is underway and is expected to be complete this summer.

“It’s really humbling,” Atkinson tells CFJC Today. “I have a lot of respect for what the Kamloops Sports Legacy Fund does within our community and what they’ve done for us. For them to believe in us and make a donation of this size is really special.”