Jets excited for new community facility

By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times

The dream has finally become a reality for the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball. If everything goes right, the academy will see a brand new community facility be completed by spring 2026. The organization has been discussing a complex that can be utilized for baseball for years and after some government funding, that dream is about to come true.

“It’s been close to 15 years that we’ve had the dream of building a facility. And, you know, we’ve continually tried to work on it over the years, but it was about six months ago when Alberta government minister, Joseph Schow, (announced we were approved). We were very fortunate that the government supported our application to get some grant funding and give us a big head start on things,” explained Les McTavish, head coach of VAB. “We got $600,000 from the Alberta government.”

With a big financial boost secured, the beginning of the project was started up. While original designs had a cost of just over $1 million, the scope has ended up being bigger than they thought. A few more additions to the building have come in, and now, the project will see a bit of a higher cost — though that isn’t a bad thing.

“At the time, the plan was to build a $1.2 million facility, one for the baseball academy, but two for the community of Vauxhall and the M.D. of Taber. Since that time, things have continued to grow and expand and our vision and dreams have continued to get bigger and better. So, we’ve added to our original plan and we’re looking at building about a $1.8 million facility that could be used by the entire M.D. of Taber,” added McTavish.

While baseball academies exist across Canada, Vauxhall has had the unique challenge of not having a dedicated baseball facility for the winter months. While the Vauxhall community hall was used, it wasn’t ideal for everything the Jets need. The new facility will be a welcome addition for all involved.

“It’s been well overdue. We’re the only program in the country that I know of that uses a hall like we do. We’ve been very fortunate to continue to grow and continue to maintain the high level of play and competition and players that we get. But, you know, it’s to the point where the game’s changing, not just baseball, but sport in general. You need the technology, you need facilities, and you need the ability to continue to help develop athletes. This facility certainly will get us in a spot where we think players will be able to thrive, and then secondly, and probably as important as anything, is, I think it can utilize by the community in various aspects,” added McTavish. “It’s kind of a win-win, not only for the baseball academy, but it’s a win-win for the community of Vauxhall and for for the entire M.D.”

When it comes to baseball inside the new facility, the Jets will have plenty of room for pitching, defence, and offensive work. While the timeline doesn’t see the team in there until fall/winter of 2026, the possibilities are endless for how they can utilize the space.

“The facility will be 80 feet by 152 feet long. The baseball or multipurpose part of the facility will be 80 by 132. It’ll be full turf, so close to 11,000 square feet of full turf, netted on all five sides, so the roof and all four walls. Cages will drop down from the roof hydraulically or manually, just depending on where we are with funding,” said McTavish. 

While the baseball side of things is important to VAB, it was also a big thing to have it be open to the community. Not only will there be tons of space for baseball, the facility will also house some impressive new features for Vauxhall and surrounding area.

“That large open space can be utilized for baseball, but it could be utilized for indoor soccer, pickleball, a walking area, or you could just have a large gathering area for a birthday party. It can be utilized by a lot of different aspects. Outside of that will be a community weight room. The baseball academy will still have our weight room inside the school, so the weight room that we build in there will be just community use. There’ll be a gathering area, bathrooms, and a big storage area. Future plans would be up above — we’ll have a mezzanine, 12 feet off the ground. That would have another viewing area, as well as possibly golf simulator down the road,” explained McTavish. 

Recruitment is also another component of this facility. While Vauxhall has always been a draw for ball players across the county, a brand new facility of this magnitude will no doubt bring more eyes to VAB.

“Having a facility where we can do defence, live pitching or live hitting will certainly benefit our players, and it helps prepare you for the season. It becomes a recruiting tool and that is very important. There’s a lot of options out there in this country when it comes to baseball programs, and I think Vauxhall has something very unique in a small rural community. This just helps us stay on par with everybody else. There’s facilities out there that are $20, $30 million facilities in some of the larger centres. What makes us unique is we only have one team of 22 players,” continued McTavish. “When you only have one team of 22 players, I think your (cost) certainly become smaller when you’re training — we don’t need a giant facility because we only have 22 guys. We need a facility that ultimately can help our players become bigger, stronger, faster, and help them develop on the baseball front.”

With eyes on opening in March/April of 2026, the path to completion is drawing near, but there’s still lots of work left to do. 

“We’re just finalizing permits right now. Once the permits are done, it’s full bore. Drawings are done and they’re signed off on. We picked a builder and that’s been signed off on. The builder will start as soon as the permits are completed. And, optimistically, we’re hoping the facility is ready some time mid-spring, so March/April. And then for our program, we would be in there the following winter. But, you know, sometimes when you’re building, it takes a little bit more time than you anticipate and some of the paperwork and some of those things need to get completed,” added McTavish.