Lights up: Ocean Grove shines brighter for junior sports

THE local sporting stars who call the Ocean Grove Memorial Reserve home can now train and play under lights, thanks to a recently completed lighting upgrade.

For Ocean Grove Football Netball Club’s (OGFNC) junior players, who train at the reserve, the upgrades will mean an improved training environment and the ability to host night-time games.

OGFNC women’s coordinator Bianca Quinn said the club was excited the lighting upgrade was complete and celebrated the difference it will make for its players, particularly during the winter months.

“There’s a lot of kids in the area that love their footy, so these upgrades are going to make a really big difference, she said.

“The footy ground holds a lot of history for our footy club. A lot of the older people around the club can remember that’s where we won all of our flags back in the 90s and the early 2000s.

“It’s the spiritual home of the footy club, so it’s really exciting that more games will be able to be played there.”

The project is part of $750,000 investment from the Australian government into the site, which is also set to include the much-needed upgrade of the club’s changerooms and umpire facilities.

A further $360,000 will be provided by the City of Greater Geelong to the project, after the OGFNC was last week announced a successful recipient in the latest round of the city’s community infrastructure grant program.

Ms Quinn said the current changerooms were not fit-for-purpose and the club was grateful for the support to upgrade them.

“The changerooms are a bit of a time warp…you can’t believe that they actually used to use the changerooms,” she said.

“It’s just completely unusable for the kids, so [the upgrades are] very welcome.”

Corangamite MP Libby Coker said Memorial Reserve has a proud history and the upgrades will ensure it continues to be a hub for local sport for years to come.

“This lighting upgrade is about keeping our local facilities up to standard and ensuring our community has access to safe and modern spaces for sport and recreation – that is particularly important for our junior sporting clubs,” she said.