When one of the finest recent Island high school basketball recruiting classes steps into its University of Victoria Vikes era this fall, it will enter a kind of wonderland named CARSA.

The $77-million athletic facility opened this weekend, and with it new vistas for UVic men’s coach Craig Beaucamp and women’s coach Dani Sinclair.

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“This is probably the top university athletic facility in the country, and I’ve been in most of them,” said Beaucamp.

“This is a great opportunity to help in recruiting players.”

UVic sport has come from the disco age, represented by the 1970s-era McKinnon Gym, finally into the 21st century.

“We’ve gone from a high-school level of presentation to a pro or semi-pro level, with two big video screens at both ends, and other amenities,” noted Beaucamp.

“It complements the momentum we have going right now [the UVic men’s team has been to three consecutive CIS championship tournaments, making it to the national Final Four the last two seasons].”

But Beaucamp is wary that many a basketball team has used dingy, dimly lit gyms to tremendous home-court advantage.

“CARSA won’t help us make a jump shot or win a game,” he said.

Ken and Kathy Shields, who made McKinnon Gym legendary by winning a combined 15 men’s and women’s national championships at UVic while producing a ferry-load of Olympians for Canada, are impressed by the new facility.

“It’s fantastic,” said Ken Shields.

“It is bright, open, expansive yet intimate [2,100 seats].”

Yet, it’s all relative.

“The old UVic players liked McKinnon, too, in their time, especially when it was packed,” said Ken Shields.

And he advised all at UVic to stay hungry.

“That fire has to keep burning. Facilities don’t help you win games,” said Shields.

“Our rowers became Olympic champions in a program on Elk Lake, that in the early years, had a shack with a single light bulb.”

When it comes to a choice between sporting hardware and software, always take the software. Shields said you can accomplish a lot — become world beaters, in fact — in sub-standard facilities with good coaches and good leaders. You will win nothing in state-of-the-art facilities if you don’t put great coaches and able sports administrators in them.

Beaucamp and Sinclair, herself a former national champion UVic player, have proven their worth in McKinnon. They are both astute and realize CARSA provides another tool for them. Nothing more. The games still have to be won on the court, no matter how splendid the surroundings.

And CARSA is impressive.

Even outdoor Vikes teams — such as those in soccer, rugby and field hockey — will benefit by the advantages of training in CARSA’s two-storey fitness and weight-training area and massive field house which are part of an edifice the size of three football fields.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com