Thursday, 24 March 2022

Whitehorse Colts Junior Football and Netball Club

Mr HAMER (Box Hill) (09:59): The Whitehorse Colts Junior Football and Netball Club is a wonderful local club based at Springfield Park in Box Hill North. The existing precinct includes a pavilion accommodating men’s and women’s change rooms, two ovals and cricket nets, but despite the word ‘netball’ featuring in the club’s name there is no facility at Springfield Park for young netballers in the Box Hill North community to train at. Typically their eight teams are forced to train at local schools and, when this is unavailable, in the small space outside the change rooms, which provides neither an appropriate surface nor the space to do any netball-specific drills.

It is so important for the club to be seen at its home venue. The visibility provided by a court at Springfield Park will help the club attract and retain players in the same way that boys and girls are encouraged to join the local football or cricket club by seeing their mates down at the park on a weekly basis. The club has been advocating to Whitehorse council for better netball facilities for some time, and that is why I was proud to support the club’s petition calling on Whitehorse council to undertake a feasibility study into the construction of outdoor netball courts at Springfield Park. Highlighting the immense support for this project, in the space of a couple of weeks in late 2021 over 1200 people signed this petition.

I want to pay tribute to Melissa Collard, president of the netball club, for being the driving force behind this petition and for her tireless advocacy for and support of better netball facilities at Springfield Park. At its meeting on 13 December 2021 council accepted the petition and referred it to officers for investigation. More than three months have now passed, and I call on Whitehorse council to update the club and the broader Box Hill North community on the status of this project.