By Jessica Anstice
The quality and quantity of basketball facilities in Cardinia do not match the popularity of the sport.
With basketball participation dramatically increasing, Cardinia Shire councillor Brett Owen has called on a report to be prepared by council officers, detailing the current status of basketball in Cardinia.
Each week, more than 550 basketball teams play at Cardinia life and 270 games are conducted.
“If you go down to Cardinia Life on a Saturday there are thousands of people in that centre at any one given time,” Cr Owen said.
“In my opinion, the stadium is bludging at the seams – 36 teams play at the Pakenham stadium on a Saturday.
“Games usually start at 8.30am and can go to 9pm on a Saturday night and that’s really not family-friendly.”
Cr Owen requested the report includes: current participation rates at existing basketball facilities, the occupancy of existing courts, and what infrastructure is required to maximise usage and details regarding proposed additional courts, stadium extensions and the building of new basketball facilities.
Boldens Basketball Club Pakenham have 60 junior teams and almost 500 players, but are lucky enough to train at Officer Secondary College three times a week.
Club president Richard Fox acknowledged that other clubs are “really struggling” to find venues to train at.
“We’ve had that much growth that even Officer Secondary College couldn’t offer us all the hours we needed,” Mr Fox said.
“I think the council does need to spend more money on basketball facilities – it should be on the agenda.
“It seems to be that all the shires around us, including Casey and Knox, have upgraded their stadiums so ours definitely needs to be upgraded.”
When the notice of motion was raised in the council meeting on Monday 18 November, Cr Ray Brown suggested the council doesn’t “put all our eggs in one basket”.
“I hope we don’t lose fight of the fact that there are other sporting disciplines that we have in the shire,” Cr Browns said.
Still in support of Cr Owen, he added, “The notice of motion is fairly open-ended.”
The council will prepare a report for the February meeting.
