Sunbury has seen a rapid rise in population and infrastructure in recent years, including the recent re-development of two competition compliant netball courts at Sunbury Recreation Reserve.
Sunbury Lions Football Netball Club has welcomed the return of community netball with open arms this year, and is looking forward to gaining momentum as the netball season swings on.
A spiritual home for many across the area, the newly refurbished courts has given a facelift to the area with club president Jack Medcraft eager to see the positive impact the upgrade will have on the community.
“I think that the courts and how we have set it all up will help us get back to a healthy state and that's fantastic,” he said.
The refurbishment includes dual outdoor netball courts, improved lighting, new player and officials shelters, new netball posts, appropriate line markings on the court and chain-mesh court fencing to enclose the area to ensure that the facilities adhere to safety requirements.
“What it's done is given all the netballers in the area the chance to play on probably one of the best surfaces there is, plus they're able to train under lighting which is going to keep them fit and healthy, and that's what we are after,” he said.
In addition to the new courts, the club’s players have world-class netball figures at their fingertips such as Netball Australia’s Executive General Manager of Performance Stacey West, who is a coach at the club along with Kim Bailey to foster the development of the next generation of netballers.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to have probably one of the best coaches in Australia with Stacey West. Stacey’s daughter also plays here, she came down and has been guiding the girls right up until she went over to England for the Commonwealth Games,” Medcraft said.
“We’ve also secured Kim Bailey. Kim has had her ear chewed off over a number of weeks, but she’s agreed to coach our teams for the next two years which is fantastic news.”
Having the influence of such key netball figures within the community provides plenty of motivation for those in the surrounding area to get involved and back playing netball, which has been the main focus for the Lions who want everyone to come down and utilise the new facilities on offer.
“We’ve got the best courts and the best lighting around – all we need is players to use it.”
While netball is at the forefront, the underlying theme of family and friendship are hard to go past for the Lions, who pride themselves on creating a safe environment for everyone to enjoy.
“If you’re part of Sunbury you’re part of the family, and we’ll look after you. There can be a lot of problems and challenges for young people, a lot of people coming from broken homes and the only real discipline they have is with clubs like ours, where they’ve got a family. They can talk to people and I think that’s very important, especially for young people who maybe aren’t traveling that well, at least they’ve got mates that they can talk to,” he said.
The new facilities are another step in helping to support that community goal, ensuring that the club environment is safe and welcoming – something that Medcraft is incredibly happy with.
“They certainly are a place for people to come and feel safe and hang out, and I'm very proud that we've been able to get that done,” he said.
Netball Victoria is constantly investing in programs such as the Country Football and Netball Program which is funded alongside the AFL and Sport and Recreation Victoria to help support our Football and Netball Clubs in regional Victoria and our growth corridors.
So far, the program has seen over 500 successful projects across the state.
Come and check out the new site in Sunbury and get excited about fantastic new facilities we are helping to build across the state.
