Kingston residents can now borrow sports equipment for free from self-serve lockers installed at 30 parks across the city.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, when city staff, along with JumpStart Charities and local Canadian Tire owners, gathered to introduce the official launch of Equip Sport Lockers at Molly McGlynn Park in Kingston.
According to the City of Kingston website, the pilot project is designed to “remove barriers to sport by providing free use of basketballs, volleyballs, frisbees and more.”
Lori Gagnon, a manager of stakeholder relations for Canadian Tire JumpStart Charities, spoke at the launch about the opportunity to work with Kingston.
“Across Canada, we’re seeing a shift toward more inclusive, flexible and participant-first opportunities and meeting people where they are, and these lockers are a great innovative example of how we can do that by working together in partnership with municipalities that are forward-thinking like Kingston,” said Gagnon.
The lockers were first installed in 2025 in Surrey, B.C and Ottawa, Ont. Since then, Equip Sport, in partnership with JumpStart Charities, has collaborated with seven different cities in Canada to bring inclusive play to local parks.
“They’re simple, accessible and designed for real life,” said Gagnon.
While speaking with YGK News, Gagnon shared how easy and accessible the lockers are.
“This is free access to sport equipment through the use of a free app that really only takes a couple of steps… The idea is to be able to bring equipment to children and families in the community,” said Gagnon.
Equip Sport users can use their mobile app to unlock the lockers and play with different types of equipment like frisbees, basketballs and more. The equipment will be different in every park to utilize existing park features.
Jumpstart Charities and the City of Kingston have put their trust in the community to use the equipment fairly and responsibly.
Although the Equip Sport app does not ask users for credit card information or payment, they can still be held liable for equipment misuse.
According to the Sport Equip Terms and Conditions ”If the locker of the station is not closed properly or some products are not returned, the user shall be held liable for not returning the Products in due time and for possible damage.”
There have been no reports of misuse in other cities using Equip Sport.
Kingston City Council unanimously voted in favour of a partnership with Equip Sport on March 10th.
Coun. Ryan Boehme of the Pittsburgh District in Kingston was in attendance, supporting the launch of the lockers.
“It was really about how do we find a simple way to turn that green space into a soccer field, a frisbee field, a football field,” said Boehme.
The lockers will each hold different types of sports equipment designed for specific park locations.
Coun. Boehme shared his hopes for the future.
“In my mind, I want to see that 30 that are deployed now grow to kind of include every single park in the city… I think you’re going to see this spread very quickly to other cities as well,” said Boehme.
Kingstonians can find the full list of participating locations on the City of Kingston website.
