Norwood Secondary teams up with Ringwood Basketball Association to secure two-court stadium
HUNDREDS of children will be able to shoot hoops, if plans for this two-court stadium go ahead.
Outer East
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HUNDREDS of children being turned back from sport will now have the chance to shoot hoops, after Norwood Secondary College teamed up with the Ringwood Basketball Association to secure a two-court stadium at the school.
Currently, the basketball association knocks back about 160 children and aspiring basketballers each season due to lack of space at its home ground, The Rings (Leader, October 5, 2015).
Norwood has received $3.7 million from the State Government to build a single court gym and is now seeking $1.6 million to add an extra court, stadium seating and several other rooms.
It would be used by the association to solve its space issues for 10 years and enable the school to host whole-school assemblies for the first time in its 50-year history.
The Federal Government has promised the extra cash if re-elected and bipartisan support is being sought.
Association president Tim Mottin said the two-court stadium would boost opportunities for juniors through to ‘Big V’.
They plan to use the stadium for training and games.
“Try telling children they aren’t the select few that can play basketball because we don’t have a court for them,” Mr Mottin said.
“I just want kids to play sport and this teaches them certain life skills, like right and wrong and dealing with other people. There will now be 100 kids and people there benefiting each night.”
Principal Andrew Sloane said long term, the school was also advocating for a complete rebuild, with the last round of government cash coming in the Gough Whitlam era in the 1970s (Leader, October 13, 2015).
Deakin federal Liberal MP Michael Sukkar said the two-court stadium project was a “triumph of the Ringwood community”.
Labor candidate Tony Clark did not promise bipartisan support but said Norwood would miss out on $1 million in funding in 2018-19 because of “Mr Sukkar’s broken promises”.
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