Penelakut Strong Mini-Pitch

The Challenge

The Penelakut Nation is an Indigenous community on a remote island off the coast of British Columbia. After coming together too often over tragedy, loss, and anger, Hope and Health was founded to offer an uplifting way to bring all generations together through football programming. The Hope and Health at Home (H3) programme employs local coaches to teach a multi-week curriculum combining football skills with life lessons to Indigenous youth in their own communities. However, Penelakut Island did not have football pitches that were playable year-round in the rainy British Columbia weather. To expand participation in H3, the Penelakut Nation needed a durable solution that would be not only easy to install and maintain, but also inspiring and engaging.

The Solution

Hope and Health turned to Musco’s Mini-Pitch System™ modular sports solution, which is built of galvanised steel and comes complete with fencing, goals, LED lighting, and ADA-compliant access for streamlined installation. The Penelakut Strong Mini-Pitch features signage with inspirational sayings, and its acrylic surface is painted with a design honouring the experiences of those who attended Canada’s residential schools. The pitch is used to provide H3 programming continuously to around 100 students and is also open to community members, who can use football balls kept in the system’s built-in storage. The remote-operable TLC for LED® lights extend play time by nearly three hours per day on average, and Musco’s parts and labour warranty eliminates all maintenance costs through the year 2031.