In accordance with provincial guidelines the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre fully shut down operations for the second time this year on December 13.

Last week the province announced the gradual strategy to ease COVID-19 restrictions, with step one including the easing of some restrictions on sports and fitness. 

While many local residents are relieved to have some more recreational options available to them, there are still a lot of question marks as to what exactly those options are.

CEO of SLS Family Sports Centre, Blair Felesky says that while it's "something" there are still many limitations in this early stage.

"There's still much interpretation. I can tell you many of the rec. facilities through Calgary are still trying to understand including me quite frankly the nuance to all things," says Felesky. "We can do some school accreditation programs through our gymnasiums, turf area and Cochrane arena, and one on one private training for now."

With limitations to only school-related recreation and one-on-one training, Felesky says the pools will remain closed at this time.

"If anything is going to occur from a pool standpoint it's probably in the step two plan of the government," says Felesky. "There's not enough scale to begin onboarding a life safety team, particularly with just one-on-one training. We think step two or March is a more reasonable timeline for when we can get the pool going."

Regular fitness programs are still on hold, and apart from personal training, the gym remains closed for regular public use.

Felesky says that at the present, "there isn't a value proposition that can be attached to a membership" and they will continue to freeze memberships for the time being.

Felesky says that the SLS Family Sports Centre will continue to provide updates as they gain a better understanding.

"We will be making more announcements through this week as we garner more clarity," says Felesky.  "Of course with these types of announcements, there's still a lot of things that need to be worked through in unison with Alberta Health to make sure that we're doing the right things to support the community's safety."

For now, effective Monday, February 8 the Cochrane Arena will be open for school accredited programs and one-on-one ice training such as figure skating. The gymnasium and turf area will also be available to be rented out on a one-on-one or family cohort basis only.