Lakies net new courts

LAST Thursday marked the official opening of the new netball facilities at the Learmonth Football Netball Club.

The project cost more than $700,000 with more than $500,000 coming from the City of Ballarat and the other $250,000 provided by the State Government.

Works included two new courts with LED sports lighting, shelter and fencing.

“We’re a club that continues to welcome new and existing players back to our club, so the demand to play netball keeps on growing, and to have these large facilities that can accommodate a lot more people playing is great,” said club president Stephen Griffin.

“On a Thursday night we can have over 100 players here at a time so it’s great we can all be together training and we have a lot of room.”

Although last week marked the official opening of the courts, they have already had plenty of use in this year’s Central Highlands Netball League season.

All eight of the Lakies netball teams made it to the finals, with both A and B Grade teams taking home premierships.

“Last year was a club success where all eligible teams that could play finals did play finals,” said Mr Griffin.

“We had three finals here this year and it accommodated the crowd really well.”

Mayor Cr Hudson said he hopes the new courts will lead to more community participation in netball.

“When facilities like this come online there is a real opportunity to continue to grow the sport,” he said.

“What we’ve seen in other areas of Ballarat is that when we invest in sport and recreation projects, we see a swell of participation.”

Member for Ripon, Martha Haylett, said that as well as increasing numbers of netballers at the club, she hopes the facilities can be used by the entire community.

“This is going to mean more participation in sport and we know that sport is the lifeblood of our country towns,” she said.

“This isn’t going to just be used by the Football Netball Club, it’s going to be used by the whole community.”