These venues are where you can catch the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games at U of T

The University of Toronto is the location for plenty of the action during the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games.  

Four venues – two at University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) and two at the downtown campus – will host a variety of competitions, including some highly anticipated contests.

Whether your favourite sport takes place on the court, in the pool or on the field, you can find it here:

Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC)

The CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre & Field House, located on the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus, represents the largest investment in amateur sport infrastructure ever made in Canada.

The centre will host events in seven sports: diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, fencing, roller-speed skating, modern pentathlon and, during the Parapan Am Games, sitting volleyball and swimming.  

Canadian fans attending the competitions at the TPASC are likely to have lots to cheer about. In synchronized swimming, they’ll be looking for a repeat of Canada’s performance at the 2011 games in Guadalajara, Mexico, where Canada took the gold medal in both events. 

Commentators also like the chances of Canada’s diving team, which launched its road to the games with a walk outdoors 356 metres above the city streets at Toronto’s CN Tower – a lot higher than the diving platforms where they can usually be found.   

TPASC was designed to benefit students and the community for years to come as the new home of UTSC’s department of athletics and recreation, open to students, faculty and staff and allowing the department to grow the number and types of programs offered. A unique partnership between the University and the City of Toronto will also ensure the facility is open to members of the community for training and recreation as well as to high-performance athletes.

Pan Am/Parapan Am Fields

Located on the U of T’s downtown campus, this is the venue for field hockey during the games. The university’s pride is sure to be on display as U of T athletes Amanda Woodcroft and Alex Thicke are suiting up for Team Canada. The fields represent Ontario’s first international-calibre field hockey venue and double the number of fields available for the sport in the Greater Toronto Area. During the Parapan Am Games, the fields will also be used for football 5-a-side and 7-a-side.

As a post-Games legacy, the fields will host a number of different sports at U of T, greatly extending the intramural and recreational playing season on campus for students and community members. 

Varsity Stadium

A familiar sight to Toronto residents for decades, the 5,000-seat Varsity Stadium is the host for the archery competitions during the Pan Am and Parapan Am games. The crowd will be paying close attention to the performance of U of T alumnus Crispin Duenas (pictured at left during the 2012 Olympic Games in London).

A member of the Canadian team, Duenas been looking forward to this event for months.  

“The fact that this huge athletic event will be coming to such an academically-inclined institution will show the diversity of U of T,” Duenas told U of T News when he was named to the Canadian archery team. “The classic buildings of the University of Toronto will offer a nice backdrop to a few sports, fusing the old generation with the new.”  

Regularly hosting local, national and international competitions, Varsity is home to a variety of athletic events each year, including track and field, football and soccer, it also hosts recreational and instructional classes, children’s programs and high-performance athlete training. During the winter months, the field continues to be a hive of activity under its state-of-the-art dome, where students and members can make use of a driving range and an array of drop-in recreational activities. 

UTSC Tennis Centre

Set in the valley landscape of the UTSC Campus, the Tennis Centre has eight acrylic courts designed to International Tennis Federation criteria and AODA barrier-free and accessibility standards.

The courts hold seating for up to 250 and are directly adjacent to TPASC. The venue will host wheelchair tennis competitions during the 2015 Parapan Am Games.

The legacy project is expected to hold great value after the Games, as it will be home to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues Men’s and Women’s tennis teams as well as to Tennis Canada National Qualifiers and 10 Ontario Tennis Association tournaments annually.