Slam dunk for local sport

By Lachlan Ellis

A brand-new facility was officially unveiled last Tuesday, with local basketball, netball, volleyball, and futsal players set to reap the benefits.

Moorabool Shire Mayor Cr Ally Munari, and East Moorabool Ward Councillors Moira Berry and Tonia Dudzik, joined Member for Eureka Michaela Settle and members from the Bacchus Marsh Basketball Association and Bacchus Marsh Netball Association to open the stadium with a ribbon cutting.

Backed by a $1.925 million grant from the State Government’s ‘Local Sports Infrastructure Fund’, the new four-court indoor stadium at Taverner Street – Stage 1 of the Moorabool Aquatic and Recreation Centre (MARC) – is set to fully open next month.

The facility will accommodate for the more than 1,900 people in the two associations, not to mention players of volleyball and futsal. It will also be open for school sports events and other indoor sports looking to establish new teams and competitions.

Cr Munari said the new facility would be a real asset to the community in 2024 and beyond.

“The indoor stadium is a wonderful multi-purpose facility, and I’d like to say thank you to the State Government for contributing through the Local Sports Infrastructure Fund to this $17.55 million project. Our aim is that this facility, once fully activated for community use, will improve the physical and mental health, and wellbeing of the community,” Cr Munari said.

“It’s a facility that can be used for both sport and social interaction.”

Ms Settle thanked all those who had made the facility possible.

“There’s so many sports communities, and so many groups who are going to be engaged here. I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge my colleague [Member for Melton] Steve McGhie…he was the original person that really pushed this with the State Government,” she said.

“You can feel already how much a part of the community it’s going to become. Basketball alone is in the thousands [of members] locally, and really needed this space.”

Bacchus Marsh Netball Association Games and Umpire Coordinator Debbie Stevenson said the new stadium would give more people the chance to play netball.

“Hopefully having more sport time, we’ll be able to get more teams in, a bigger stadium with a roof that doesn’t leak with rain. It’ll give us a chance to expand in the future if possible, that’s not really possible with where we are at the moment.” Ms Stevenson told the Moorabool News.

Belgravia Leisure will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the four courts, two multi-program spaces, and function room with kitchenette the facility contains, with its CEO Nick Cox saying the company was “very much looking forward to starting this partnership with Council and bringing the community of Bacchus Marsh and surrounds a much-needed modern sport and recreation space”.

The new stadium also contains 340 seats with standalone changerooms, a first aid room and referees’ room, car parking with 118 spaces, and more.

‘A’ COMPONENT OF ‘MARC’ STILL MISSING

Stage 2 of MARC, the regional bowls and community hub, has also been fully funded – but Stage 3, the indoor pool complex, has received Council and State Government funding, but still needs Federal Government funding to be completed.

Cr Munari and Ms Settle said they would both continue strongly advocating for the Federal Government to provide the final piece of the puzzle – a $15 million grant.

“We’ll continue to push as hard as we can to achieve our goal. We’ll continue advocating heavily to the Federal Government to provide the rest of the funding, so this wonderful facility can be completed. We’ve got the bowls hub going up as well, it’s going to be a wonderful facility,” Cr Munari told the Moorabool News.

“We’re listening to our community, and will continue listening to our community, on what they’re telling us they want. For a really really long time, we’ve known what that is, it’s an indoor pool.”

“I know how important it [the indoor pool] is to the community. We’ve been running a petition, and we’re collecting up signatures, we’ll certainly be taking that to the Federal Government. I really want to see this built, I know how much it means to the community,” Ms Settle added.

“I’m really glad we [the State Government] have stepped in and put in our $10 million, but let’s get this built.”