The Kelowna United Soccer Club Dome

The Kelowna United Soccer Club Dome

When the Kelowna United Soccer Club decided they needed a new indoor facility for soccer training during the winter months, it was up to us at The Farley Group to make it a reality. Their new soccer dome went up in 2013, so this week’s blog is all about Kelowna United and their seasonal soccer bubble.

In this blog section of our site, we talk a lot about soccer and soccer domes and for good reason. We may be a little biased, but domes are the absolute best way to play soccer indoors. Domes can be seasonal, meaning an outdoor turf space can be easily converted to an indoor turf space for the winter season, when that space would otherwise be lost underneath snow and ice. Domes are held up with air, so wide clear-span spaces aren’t obstructed by pillars or walls. With so much available space and headroom coupled with an environment that stays the same no matter the outside conditions, air domes are the best, and most cost-effective solution. But if you’ve been following this blog, you probably know all of this!

The Kelowna United Soccer Club quickly figured this out as well, and commissioned The Farley Group to build their newest seasonal indoor training space.

Kelowna, for those unaware, is a city in the Southern end of British Columbia. BC itself sits on the Western side of Canada. That means there’s a good distance between Kelowna and The Farley Group, which makes its home in Puslinch, Ontario. It’s about a 4,000 km drive (nearly 2,500 miles!)

Not a problem, though. Farley domes are used to travelling and we’ve done quite a few projects across Canada and the U.S.

Preparation for the project started long before the first hole was dug, but the foundation for the dome first started in summer of 2013. The dome held its grand opening in January of 2014 and much of the construction is chronicled on Kelowna United’s website.

From the pictures taken, it’s obvious that the club was excited to see the project come together.

The aim for the dome was to provide a space for players of all ages and levels in the Kelowna United Soccer club to play during the winter. The club has multiple girls and boys teams at all age levels and multiple programs run out of the facility.

Despite the winter, summers in Kelowna can get hot. Sometimes extremely hot. It’s not uncommon for summer temperatures to reach over 32 °C (90 °F). To make the most of the summer weather, the dome comes down in the spring to give the soccer club another outdoor training space.  This fall it will be going back up to protect the field from cold, snow, and ice.

Most recently, Kelowna United announced on their website a new partnership with Valley First, a financial services company committed to helping youth sport. The partnership will help Kelowna United maintain the dome and facilities and the dome is to be renamed the “Valley First Soccer Centre.”

This 28,000 square foot dome has brought a premiere indoor playing facility to Kelowna’s youngsters, and it’s another project that The Farley Group couldn’t be any happier to have been a part of!