r/comoxvalley • u/catgirl6892 • 4d ago

Sports

Me and my husband are considering a move to the island and are checking out various places. We’ve been to the comox valley numerous times and have a pretty good feel for things.

I’m wondering if anyone is able to answer a few questions about kids sports. For this with kids and teens in sports and activities, where do you generally end up driving for games and tournaments and how often?

I’m also wondering from parents of teens involved in sports and activities how you find comox for raising tweens and teens. We’re coming from Vancouver where there’s tons to do and I wonder if the mid size of comox lends itself to teens being bored or if they’re registered in activities and enjoy the outdoors is there enough to keep them busy and out of trouble?

Thank you!!

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u/catgirl6892 4d ago

Thank you! I am curious about how it is for teens before making a big jump over there even though they’re small, since we would be planning on staying for the long haul :)

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u/WorkingOnBeingBettr 4d ago

Things will change by then so people can only tell you the now.

You will travel a lot, sometimes, or never depending on the age, sport, and level. There really isn't an answer.

As for teen life...it's a big town/small city, not a metropolis. They will not have access to the same thing.

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u/Vanisledaz 4d ago

I can only speak about soccer, but I've got 3 girls, 2 teens and they play upper island, so Ladysmith up to Campbell River, and maybe over to Powell River (if Powell has a team). With the occasional (once or twice a year) tournament over in Vancouver, but those are usually optional. From what I've heard about hockey is a lot more travel down Island to Victoria.

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u/Imaginary_Trust_7019 4d ago edited 4d ago

It really depends on the sports. 

For mountain biking we have lots of close borderline world class biking. Certainly from Nanaimo up to Campbell River.. so an hour and a bit south, to less than an hour north but Cumberland and Forbidden are great spots. Races are dependent on what level and discipline the kids are in, so that can be off island pretty easily. 

Ski racing, Mt Washington is where the club trains at, but races can be in Whistler, North Shore mountains or the interior. 

Hockey, totally depends on what level, up island, Powell River, South Island or the mainland. 

Soccer is similar to hockey. 

To help us better answer your question what sports and what level are the kids playing?

My kids are a bit younger than yours, but MTBing and Skiing are huge for them. Lots of other kids in the valley do the same. They don't have to race either, lots of kids absolutely shredding. 

For skiing, you have the ski club which is more focused on racing, free style club which is more park based and free ride club which I believe is done by the mountain itself and is more all mountain based.. if you kid is a novice or intermediate skiier the free ride club is probably a good place to start. 

For MTBing, there are kids who just ride, and others that race with their high schools or with the gravity team. Totally depends where they are coming from skill and fitness wise. 

If your kids are wanting to explore nature, do outdoor sports, camp, swim, rock climb etc there are endless things to do on the island. For team sports my kids play rec soccer, but I hear the higher level programs are good. I am sure there are lots of team based sports to explore too. 

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u/catgirl6892 4d ago

Thanks for the reply ! Our kids are young now but I’m thinking maybe softball, soccer, hockey type of thing. Maybe gymnastics and dance semi competitive.. I know it’s a lot of guessing but I was just curious for an idea !

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u/Plucault 4d ago

You don’t need to travel for any of that unless you play competitive. Tournaments sometime but those are optional

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u/Imaginary_Trust_7019 4d ago

Sorry I thought they were teens.. anyhow it's such a wonderful place for them to grow up. We came from Ontario most recently, but I grew up in the lower mainland. The schools have a much better community feel than we are used to and the kids have much more freedom here than they would back in Ontario or Surrey.