Game changer: grant backs push for disability sport hub

PLANS are underway to transform an East Geelong sports site into a purpose-built hub for disability sport and inclusive participation, following new funding to develop a concept for the space.

Try Boys Brigade has secured $20,000 through a City of Greater Geelong community infrastructure grant to begin planning for a disability sports participation precinct at its facility.

President Aaron Green said the project would place disability sport at its centre and be co-designed with people with lived experience of disability.

The organisation will formally join with Leisure Networks to deliver the precinct, combining Try Boys’ community infrastructure base with Leisure Networks’ expertise in disability sport, inclusion and participation.

Try Boys’ connection to disability sport dates back to the early 2000s, when Parallel Sport — now Leisure Networks — struggled to find suitable courts for wheelchair basketball.

Over the past two decades, the organisations have continued to advocate for improved access.

Green said the new precinct would be built around dignified, practical access.

“It’s going to be a facility that people can access and access well,” Green said.

“If you go to the arena, you can play wheelchair basketball on the court, but you can’t really use the change rooms. You can’t have 50 people in wheelchairs come to a game because they don’t have space for wheelchair users to watch.

“We thought, what about if we were able to accommodate those needs better than what they are anywhere else, wouldn’t that be pretty cool? So, we put our heads together.”

The funding will support the development of a formal plan over the next 12 months, a key step before applying for major infrastructure funding.

Aligned with the City of Greater Geelong’s Disability Access and Inclusion Plan, the precinct is expected to benefit more than 10,000 people.

The project aims to unlock long-term community, health and social outcomes by creating a more inclusive approach to sport and recreation access in Geelong – led by community organisations and designed for those who need it most.

The East Geelong site will remain open to the broader community while supporting multiple disability sports, with hopes the precinct could eventually become a regional and state-level hub.

Green said the project reflected the brigade’s 120-year history of helping the Geelong community.

“The Try Boys Brigade isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “We continue to think about evolution, but we’ve been here for well over 120 years and our purpose is still very much the same.

“We’re committed to the community. We don’t have to do big things, but we certainly want to do positive things.”