New courts a winner at Pyalong

PYALONG’S new tennis and netball facilities were officially opened last week by the State Minister for Community Sport, Ros Spence, after a major upgrade.

The $750,000 project was a joint State Government and Mitchell Shire project and involved the complete decommissioning of an old hard-court area.

They have been replaced by two shared-use netball and tennis courts that are lit to competition standard, as well as a hard-court warm-up and active recreation area that incorporates a half basketball court.

Ms Spence said the space had been transformed into something that she thought was quite spectacular.

“I particularly wanted to mention the lighting,” she said. “It’s important to have the lighting here because not only do we have more people able to participate on the court, but they are able to participate for longer.

“That’s what we want, we want more participation.”

Mitchell Shire mayor Cr Fiona Stevens said the municipality and its funding partners had made a commitment to improving sporting facilities across the Shire in recent years.

“We particularly want to open up the opportunities for females, young and old, but that doesn’t exclude the boys either,” she said.

“We know female participation in community sports is growing and we’re working closely with the clubs and the committees of management right throughout the shire to encourage that participation.

“We don’t have the bowling alleys, we don’t have the movie theatres, but we have our sport, and we love our sport, and it’s so important to us.

“The reserve and its facilities are vital part of a small community like Pyalong.”

Pyalong Netball Club president Narelle Roberston said the organisation was growing with 49 players across five junior teams and another six in the skills-based program NetSetGo.

“Pyalong Netball Club is celebrating its 20th year,” she said. “What a fantastic way to commemorate that.

“Our little club started with such humble beginnings and a makeshift court painted over a tennis court.”

Ms Robertson said she was also keen to see tennis come back to the recreation reserve.

“We’ve got a tennis coach that comes out once a week… so she’ll start again now that the courts are up and running and then ultimately regrow from the ground up,” she said.

Mitchell Shire recreation and open space co-ordinator Lyn Morling said the now-demolished shared courts had reached at the end of their useful life.

“There were some issues with drainage from the slope, there was no drainage along one side and that was undermining the condition of the courts as well,” she said.

“We worked with the committee of management and user groups to develop two new fully compliant and fully-lit competition standard courts.

“This has refreshed leadership of the site and the number of netball teams has already increased.”

The project was funded by $500,000 from the Female Friendly Facilities Stream of the State Government’s Local Sports Infrastructure Fund and $250,000 from Mitchell Shire.