Strategy earmarks hockey pitch at high school

A HOCKEY pitch has been earmarked for Surf Coast Secondary College as part of the G21 Regional Hockey Strategy, endorsed by Surf Coast Shire councillors last month.

The strategy has been drawn up to provide a clear strategic direction for hockey in the region for the next 10 years, and is awaiting endorsement from all the G21 member councils.

It focuses on both the built “on-field” elements of the game (facilities and infrastructure) and the “off-field’ components, including increasing participation levels, building the social hockey format, sports development, resourcing and partnership development.

According to the report presented to councillors at their meeting, the Surf Coast Shire is expected to experience an increase in population of 28.9 per cent by 2028, with an extra 7,599 people.

Based on a hockey penetration rate of 0.35 per cent, this equates to about 27 more local hockey players by 2028, taking the estimated total for Torquay Tornadoes Hockey Club to more than 220 players.

Hockey Victoria’s Facility Development Framework states that a club with at least 15 teams and 225 players requires a full size synthetic single hockey pitch.

As a result, the strategy proposes building a hockey pitch at Surf Coast Secondary College at an estimated cost of $1.5 million – $1.8 million, with surface renewal every 10 years at a cost of about $400,000.

The strategy proposes the shire draw up a business case for the pitch within a year.

Cr Margot Smith said the new pitch could be used by other sports than just hockey, including tennis, soccer, gridiron, touch rugby and lacrosse.

“I think it’s good to have this sort of thing considered right across the region. At the moment, we do actually have quite a large number of participants in hockey that live within the Surf Coast and to play on a proper pitch they having to travel into Geelong to Stead Park.”

The Colac Otway Shire has also endorsed the strategy.

Colac Otway mayor Jason Schram said the strategy recommended monitoring participation levels in the municipality, which has no active hockey clubs or synthetic hockey fields.

“The hockey strategy also recommends Colac Otway supports clubs to deliver social and unstructured forms of hockey to the wider community, along with an investigation into potential shared-use arrangements for Hookin2hockey (a modified version of the sport).”