Tennis Winner: Leopold club finally scores major clubhouse upgrade

A DECADE-LONG push for a revamp of Leopold tennis facilities has finally come to fruition, with the Victorian government committing $1 million for the project.

This week’s 2022-23 State Budget served up the tennis club cash, which will deliver a long-awaited refurbishment of the clubrooms, including a modern toilet and change room facilities.

The project is the final piece of an infrastructure puzzle outlined in the 2011 Leopold Memorial Reserve Master Plan.

The City of Greater Geelong had applied to the state government for project funding late last year and agreed to commit $720,000 of its own cash to deliver a then-estimated $1.52 million rebuild.

The commitment marks the end of more than 10 years of lobbying from long-time club stalwart Joan Colegrave.

Ms Colegrave said she first set foot on the Leopold courts in 1953 and devoted herself fully to the fundraising campaign shortly after hanging up her racquet in 2009.

She said the drive had gathered support over the years, including from Bellarine Labor MP Lisa Neville, Bellarine Ward councillor Jim Mason, Tennis Victoria, the Leopold Tennis Club committee and fellow Memorial Reserve sporting clubs.

“It was unbelievable. I’ve been let down so many times before and I was still unsure until today,” Ms Colegrave said earlier this week.

“There’s been a lot of help, but it’s been a long road.

“I was determined I was going to follow it through. It was too hard to pass it on to anyone else because of all the work I’d done.”

Works will deliver match-standard lights, which are crucial to keep up participation to suit players’ work schedules.

New clubrooms will also have internal toilets for the first time, including disability access, and help meet demands from the town’s growing community.

Ms Neville said the club was a deserving recipient of the budget windfall after years of lobbying.

“With now over 100 club members, and many of them juniors, the club continues to go from strength-to-strength despite the current conditions of its facilities,” Ms Neville said.

“As such, I was pleased to work with the club in securing this State Budget funding.

“I congratulate the Leopold Tennis Club, especially its stalwarts like Joan Colegrave, who has been tireless in her advocacy for the club over many years.

“The club can now look forward to the upgrade works soon commencing and in the not-too-distant future enjoying the first-class facilities they deserve.”