The extension to the PCYC's indoor court area will be a boon for all sports, but the race is on between burgeoning growth in netball participation and plans being put together by Orange City Council.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Council's sport and recreation committee met last month to put forward preliminary plans for an expansion of the PCYC, and it's a move the Orange Netball Association has welcomed.
The PCYC is currently home to basketball, indoor hockey and futsal competitions, but netball by far has the most numbers using the facility.
The numbers have become so large that at the start of 2020 the youngest grades had to be moved from a Saturday morning to a Wednesday afternoon, with committee member Cass Garlick saying there was no other option.
"We moved the eight and nine-year-old girls to a Wednesday night because there simply aren't enough courts to fit everyone in on a Saturday morning," she said.
It will get to that stage [where we need more courts], it will keep growing and that's just the way Orange has kept going.
- Cass Garlick
"Up until last year we could always fit the juniors on a Saturday morning and seniors on the afternoon and now we just physically can't. It's just too full. Unless we start netball at 6.30am on a Saturday morning."
The numbers for netball haven't taken a hit at all in 2020, either. If anything, Mrs Garlick said they've gone the other way for the youngest age groups.
The under eights and nines play games without scoring, while children younger than seven have been joining the rapidly-growing cohort of NetSetGo players under the tutelage of Toot Keegan.
Mrs Garlick said the Keegan family were a huge reason the sport was growing so quickly, while the switch to Wednesday has also met strong support.
"They're just so good at it," Mrs Garlick said.
"A lot of people were up us at the start and Saturday morning wasn't an option, we had to switch it. It wasn't by choice, it's what we had to do but it's gone well.
"There were mixed emotions about the Wednesday afternoon thing originally but most parents now are loving it because it frees them up on a Saturday morning."
While at this stage Mrs Garlick was hoping the ONA would still be able to fit remaining junior grades on Saturday mornings, she said splitting under nines and 10s up to a weekday would be much more a challenge than moving non-competitive grades.
"It will get to that stage [where we need more courts], it will keep growing and that's just the way Orange has kept going," she said.
There's no timeline or timeframe yet on when courts may be proposed, but with growth continuing they'll be needed just as much as ever.
HAVE YOUR SAY
- Send us a letter to the editor using the form below ...
Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
