Gordie Howe Sports Complex living out big dreams

Sport park’s family has grown and is open to all

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Carter Beck hits a triple for the Berries on August 11.

The dream has become a reality.

Way back on March 1, 2019, the Gordie Howe Sports Complex Management Incorporated officially took over management of the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. The non-profit body came into existence over the dream of having a unified group coordinate everything that went on at the sports park.

Before Gordie Howe Sports Complex Management Incorporated came into existence, each sport was responsible for coordinating the activities on the facilities on the Complex’s grounds like Saskatoon Minor Football Field, the baseball and softball diamonds and the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval in winter. The dream of a unified group overseeing the operations of the sports park came with the hope things could be run in a more positive manner for all sports groups that would ultimately allow them to pull bigger events to the Complex.

A young cricket player practices making a defensive hit.

Fast forward from those beginnings to the present day, the Complex had a really successful 2024 year hosting various events from the sport of baseball, cricket, football, lacrosse, Nordic Skiing, rugby, softball, speed skating, track and field and ultimate disk. People have flocked to the Complex for training sessions and to take part in all sorts of events like the John Sands Classic Long Track Meet for speed skating, the massive SHSAA Track and Field Provincial Championships, Saskatoon Berries Baseball Club contests, Saskatoon Valkyries games, Saskatoon Hilltops contests, two Softball Canada nationals, various big games in baseball, football and softball, and an extremely successful and memorable high school football season.

Muriel Gieni has set numbers Canadian masters track and field records.

“The amount of athletes that have been here for the last 2,000 days is unheard of,” said Bryan Kosteroski, who is the Chairperson of Gordie Howe Sports Complex Management Incorporated. “We are an example of a group of people who had a dream, who partnered and collaborated with all the sports organizations that are here.

“We created one of the top sports venues in Canada. We’re fully self-operational. We’re a full-fledged business now.

“We hire students of all ages year round. We really fill a void that has been in Canada about organizations taking a facility and growing a facility and operating a facility all in one.”

Cadence Colborn drives a hit for the Prairie Dog Selects on August 3.

The Complex’s family has welcomed everyone of all ages and cultures since being established in March of 2019. That included hosting athletes from the Saskatchewan North Central Softball Academy’s Timbits Saturdays program who are aged five to 10 and to 66-year-old star athlete Muriel Gieni, who has broken Canadian masters record in track and field on at least 60 occasions in her career.

“The 222’s (Fastpitch program players) come from all across Western Canada for their programs here,” said Johnny Marciniuk, who is the Gordie Howe Sports Complex Management Incorporated Operations Manager. “We’ve got people in their 20s and 30s and 40s who are playing ultimate disc here.

Ultimate disc is a sport that attracts a wide group of athletes.

“The whole facility is multi-dimensional.”

Over the past year and a half, the Complex has welcomed the cricket community, who use the Indoor Training Centre for off-season work. The Saskatoon Berries played their inaugural Western Canadian Baseball League season in 2024 attracting an average of 1,931 spectators for 26 regular season home dates at Cairns Field.

The track and field community has hosted the SHSAA Provincial Championships for two straight years at the Track and Field Track. It is common for that event to draw in 4,000 people between athletes, coaches, support staff and spectators per day.

“For me, the highlight of this year was the increased amount of new sports and new athletes coming to the Complex,” said Kosteroski. “You look at how Cricket has grown.

The Mount Royal Collegiate Mustangs celebrate a win on Sept. 27.

“You look at track in the summer. You look at all of our sports they are all growing. To me, the Gordie Howe Sports Complex family keeps on expanding from year to year.

“The big thing there is that I look at the amount of people that come to the Complex a year. We say an average of 600,000, and we’re probably out of whack now. To me, that is the biggest highlight for me on the Complex personally.”

On top of the various sports communities gaining special experiences on the Complex’s grounds, Ignite Athletics has called the Complex home since the Indoor Training Centre officially opened in March of 2019. The crew at Ignite want to help the athletes they train to improve every day, so they can meet their athletic goals.

The John Sands Classic Long Track Meet attracts a lot of skaters.

As a result of the great work the Ignite staff does, they’ve attracted elite athletes from a wide variety of sports along with people who just want to be in better shape. In 2024, Ignite Athletics had a special year helping add to the overall family at the Complex.

“One of the things I’m really proud of is this being the Canadian Sport Centre for Saskatchewan in cooperation with Ignite Athletics, which is really cool and prestigious for us here,” said Marciniuk. “Ignite was an instigator for that, but they couldn’t have done it without the facility is what (Ignite Athletics co-owner) Joel (Lipinski) was telling us.

The Glenn Reeve Fields become ski trails in the winter.

“We also have Ignite Health that opened up weeks ago. It is something that is flourishing for them. They have chiropractor, dietician, physiotherapy, massage and dietary and nutrition.

“All of that is awesome.”

As for some other improvements in 2024, the Berries arrival saw the concession at the K+S Potash Canada Multi-Sports Centre be revamped, new foul poles were added to all the Glenn Reeve Field diamonds and a total of 80 trees were planted on the Complex grounds. The City of Saskatoon helped out building a bike path and new fencing along Dudley Street on the north side of the park.

The Saskatoon Wild Oats Rugby Club uses the Indoor Training Centre. 

Working with the Gordie Howe Sports Complex Management Incorporated board of directors that includes members of the sporting groups that use the park’s facilities, a revamp was done on the technological side. Kosteroski said the collaboration of the sports organizations has always been important in moving the Complex forward.

“The Gordie Howe Sports Complex in the fiscal 2024 had major business infrastructure adjustments where we created a new website, new booking systems and new accounting systems,” said Kosteroski. “Why the Complex did that was to ensure that we meet our customers’ demands and our growth needs in the future.

The Sentinels Lacrosse Club enjoy practising at the Indoor Training Centre.

“This year has been a major business development increase for the Complex. That is huge for a business to do all of those three different things in one year. We have to thank the Board of Directors for supporting this initiative as they see the growth of the Complex keep on going.

“We had to increase our capabilities, but also adjust our infrastructure to support that growth. That is huge for this business to do those three big things in one year.”

Now, the Gordie Howe Sports Complex is well into year six. Moving into the future, Kosteroski said the various sports communities are working towards bringing more major events to the Complex.

More big events like Softball Canada nationals will come to the Complex.

“Now, we’re starting to see all of our organizations looking at big bringing in world, national and international events,” said Kosteroski. “A lot of our ALTRs (authorized long term renters) are looking at now bringing in these major events because of the infrastructure in place now at the Complex.

“It took time for us to grow the infrastructure. Now for a lot of sports, that infrastructure is in place. Now, it is time for them to partner and start hosting major events, which we’re seeing a lot of verbiage from and a lot of noise about.”

As the various processes unfold in bringing more big events to the Complex, Kosteroski said the Gordie Howe Sports Complex Management Incorporated will be there to continue to collaborate with those sporting groups adding that everyone on the Complex grounds is family.

The Berries salute their fans on August 13.

“We talked about that when we started forming the Gordie Howe Sports Complex about how we’re going to grow and how we grow the family,” said Kosteroski. “The family is growing by itself now.”

For more information on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, feel free to check out the Complex’s recently revamped website at gordiehowesportscomplex.ca.

Gieni’s happy place is track and field track

Masters athlete has set Canadian records at least 60 times

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Muriel Gieni is an all-time great masters athlete in track and field.

Muriel Gieni discovered a whole new life when she followed her son into a sport.

About 23 years ago, Gieni’s son, Morgan, joined the Riversdale Athletics Club. At first, Gieni would drive Morgan to practice and watch him take part in the sport.

One day, Morgan’s coach, Doug Boyd, invited the parents to come out and take part in training. That led to Gieni at the time in her early 40s becoming a regular participant in practice sessions and eventually to taking part in masters athletics competitions.

In over two decades, Gieni is now 66-years-old and still going strong in the sport. Over her career, she has traveled all over and broken Canadian masters records in track and field on at least 60 occasions.

That included earning 3,852 points in the pentathlon at the Alberta Indoor Games on Edmonton this past February 4. Gieni’s point total set a new Canadian masters women’s indoor record for those aged 65 to 69.

“Your life has a journey, and you are rolling along here,” said Gieni. “What I learned is find what you love to do and do it.

“The second I walk on to a track I’m in my happy place. This is where I belong. This is where I should be.”

Before joining the Riversdale Athletics Club, Gieri had an athletic background. She grew up in a small town and in high school she took part in basketball, volleyball, badminton and track and field. Like small town athletes in the current day, Gieri moved from one sport to another as the year went along.

She remembers back then taking a liking to track and field.

“Our track season was four or five weeks long whatever it was,” said Gieni, who stands 5-foot-6. “I loved it.

“I loved track and field. It just was very limited to the time. I didn’t really get proper counselling to further my pursuit in track and field.

Muriel Gieni has set a number of records in triple jump.

“I was married with children for 20 years after that and then joined track again.”

Following high school, Gieni played volleyball in her post-secondary years as a student. After her post-secondary school was complete, Gieni continued to stay in shape doing workouts in the gym.

Upon getting back into track and field with the Riversdale Athletics Club, Gieni felt a new motivation in her pursuit to stay fit forming friendships with the athletes at the club. She enjoyed the youthful energy of the young members who were in junior high school or high school.

At first, Gieni saw herself being in the background as the person that was working to stay in shape and offer words of encouragement to the young athletes in the club. To her surprise, she received coaching, and she loved it.

“Right away, every single coach I’ve ever had has treated me like an athlete, and they talk to me like they would anybody in the group coaching specific technique, coaching specific to me what I need to do,” said Gieni. “It has been, ‘OK. I’ll ride this wave.’”

Gieni said the coaching she has received over the years from the Riversdale Athletic Club and the track and field community as a whole in Saskatoon has been outstanding. She added the track and field coaches in Saskatoon genuinely want to see the athletes they work with do well.

As for track events themselves, Gieni’s favourite is hurdles. Her main disciplines are hurdles, triple jump and long jump. Over the years, Gieni has picked up shot put, high jump, the 200-metre race, 800-metre race and javelin in order compete in pentathlons and heptathlons.

The pentathlon in masters women’s competitions includes 60-metre hurdles, 800-metre race, high jump, long jump and shot put. The heptathlon for masters women’s competitions is made up of the 80-metre hurdles, 200-metre race, 800-metre race, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin.

When Gieni picked up new track disciplines over the years, she usually encounters a local coach who is an expert in that discipline, and the instruction she receives helps her performance immensely.

“I’ve always believed a champion is made by the athlete who buys into the coach,” said Gieni. “If you can coordinate that where your believing what he or she is saying you have magic.

Muriel Gieni takes part in Saskatchewan provincial in July of 2023.

“Sometimes I have a regular coach say just in high jump or some other coach and it could be from another club. It could be a senior coach that has come back to visit. I’ll just hear one thing, and I’ll say, ‘OK,’ because you hear it different. Then that works.”

As a bonus, the Canadian records started to come. Gieni’s first Canadian record was set in Calgary in the women’s 80-metre hurdles at age 45 in the 45-49 masters age class.

“I was absolutely over the moon, because it means I’m the first Canadian woman at this age that has ever run this fast,” said Gieni, who also sometimes has to chuckle when she sets a record. “Then I got into jumping, and I found out I could set Canadian records in the triple jump and long jump.

“I’ve been very successful in shotput as well. I’ve been very successful in high jump lately for some reason in my 60s. I’ve over 65.

“I’m jumping higher than I ever did in my 40s. What’s with that? The things that coaches challenge me with then I ask my body to try it, and I have actually no idea where this is going to go but sometimes it has been extremely successful and kind of laughable.”

Over the years, Gieni has cherished the friendships she has made through track and field. Last year, she did regular training sessions in the morning with the elite group on the Track and Field Track on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds that includes Michelle Harrison, Nicole Ostertag, Savannah Sutherland and Madisson Lawrence.

For one morning session last year, Gieni brought a camera to get photos of herself going through her events. She decided to get a photo of herself together with Harrison, Ostertag, Sutherland and Lawrence for a keepsake.

“My relationship with the other athletes is just the joy I carry around with me,” said Gieni. “I’m taking a picture, because this is who I am out here training with.

“They like me, but I like them way more. I love these kids. They treat me really, really well.”

Muriel Gieni picked up shot put to enter pentathlons and heptathlons.

With the track and field track being her happy place, Gieni plans to competing in the sport for as long as possible. Due to the fact masters records are classified via five year age groups, Gieni has a new set of records to go after the older she gets. At the moment, she his just at the beginning of going after the records in the women’s 65-69 age group.

While she enjoys pursuing Canadian records, Gieni stays in track and field, because she flat out loves it.

“It is absolutely my thing,” said Gieni.“I don’t do it to inspire others, but I do it to charge myself up, and my family loves it.

“They get a big kick out of it. It brings happiness all around. Fitness brings happiness. You got this where you are feeling good everyday.”