Nirimba Sports Complex opens at Aura for netball, rugby league and cricket

A multimillion-dollar new facility praised by sports groups has opened, but the countdown to kick-off has plenty of steps still to be taken.

A multimillion-dollar new facility praised by local sports groups has opened and is set to play a key role for sport within the growing Aura community in the future.

The $6.5 million Nirimba Sports Complex at Aura, in Caloundra South, was opened by Sunshine Coast Council and Stockland on Tuesday.

Aura’s first district-level sports facility features four rugby league fields, four netball courts and two cricket fields.

There’s also two change rooms, a canteen, a referee change room and public amenities plus a three-bay storage shed.

Aura Netball will be the first and most prolific group to make early use of the complex, with president Gavin Cameron hopeful teams could hit the court next week.

Mayor Mark Jamieson and Division 1 Councillor Rick Baberowski officially opening the $6.5 million Nirimba Sports Complex on Tuesday

Having called a half court at Pedal Park home for the past few years the new complex was a big win.

“The courts are fantastic and we can't wait to (use them),” he said.

“Having the four courts is a game changer for us and will allow us to train our girls on a full court situation with hoops.

“It also means we can train all of our girls on the one night now rather than spread over three or four days.”

He said they looked forward to building their own purpose-built clubhouse at the site in coming years.

The $6.5 million Nirimba Sports Complex officially opened on Tuesday.

While netball will have courts alive and busy from the get go, other codes would slowly ease into the new facility.

The rugby league fields will see some action from August as the Sunshine Coast RISE Rugby League Development program sets up.

QRL Sunshine Coast area manager Nathan McLean said current clubs wouldn’t use them yet but was hopeful the fields would be in full use by U6-U9 Baringa and Nirimba youth under a newly-formed club next year.

With a burgeoning nearby population he said the facility would come in handy in the future.

Baringa State Secondary College opened earlier this year with the new Caloundra south primary school set to open next year.

“We’ve been working closely with council probably for 6-7 years now on a new green space given the expansion of the (Caloundra South) area,” Mr McLean said.

“Kawana and Caloundra are at capacity, if not over capacity, in juniors and seniors so it will be a great relief on our green space...to have kids play (in a new club) at Nirimba.”

The $6.5 million Nirimba Sports Complex officially opened on Tuesday.

Sunshine Coast Cricket Association president Chris Baker said they’d look to use the synthetic wickets for juniors in select fixtures from October.

He said they’d “wait and see” as to whether a new club could be formed down the track.

“At this stage we will go down and try and use them (fields) but there’s not going to be big numbers there until the population grows and we will see what happens in a couple years time,” he said.

The facility was delivered in line with the requirements of the Caloundra South Infrastructure Agreement, which required Stockland to deliver the entire open space network (sport and recreation) at no cost to the council and included funding towards the construction of a network of 10 sports clubhouses across the development area.

Deputy Mayor and Division 1 Councillor Rick Baberowski said sports club houses like this were a win-win for our communities.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a competitive player or just like to play for fun, this infrastructure supports all levels of sports,” he said.