25 January, 2010

Plans for Hamilton’s newest and largest multi-court community indoor recreation centre are well under way with a number of the city’s indoor sports and recreation groups stating such a facility is “long overdue”.

It is recommended before 2017 a nine court facility made up of three event-viewing courts and six participation courts will be built and located at Wintec’s Avalon Drive campus in Te Rapa. The Hamilton Community Indoor Recreation Centre (HCIRC) would also feature seating for approximately 1,500 spectators, 200 car parks, changing rooms and toilets, and administration space.

It would also offer streamlined service centres for the three main regional sports organisations which require significant indoor court space: Netball Waikato, Basketball Waikato and Volleyball Waikato.

Today representatives of the Steering Committee of the HCIRC presented plans and details about the $21 million project to a Hamilton City Council workshop.

HCIRC spokesperson and Sport Waikato CEO Matthew Cooper says while the project is included and allowed for in Hamilton City Council’s planning for 2013 to 2017 it would be ideal if the project was brought forward to be completed as soon as possible.

“There is a pressing need for such a facility in Hamilton. The city has no publicly accessible indoor recreation facility of any scale. There is a sizeable void between high performance indoor facilities such as the Claudelands Events Arena and Mystery Creek, and smaller single-use facilities in schools and community halls. This was backed up by a feasibility study which highlighted the need for a medium-sized, multi-purpose, daily-use sport and recreation facility that is accessible to everyone.”

“As many other New Zealand cities have identified, a facility such as this is positive for the community, and caters for the increasing demand for healthy living options and participation in sports. Hamilton has been lacking such a facility for some time and is well behind other cities in this regard.”

“The HCIRC would give Hamilton an excellent chance of boosting participation in indoor sports - multiple sports groups could use the facility at the same time allowing greater flexibility of use, and it will also help secure more regional and national sports tournaments.”

Representatives from Netball Waikato, Basketball Waikato and Volleyball Waikato all welcome the plans for the HCIRC stating that such a facility is “long overdue” in Hamilton.

Basketball Waikato spokesperson John Davey says: “basketball and other indoor sports have been strongly disadvantaged for many years due to the lack of facilities in our city. There is only one full-sized public basketball court in the entire city at the moment, yet several thousand people wish to play indoor community sport on a weekly basis.”

“Our youth and families are being severely sold short. We have been left behind on the facility front compared to every other city in New Zealand, as well as a number of provincial towns. The current situation is a disgrace and embarrassment and needs to be addressed with urgency.”

Netball Waikato’s Region Manager Ben Sinnamon says: “the development of a public indoor recreation facility would be a dream come true for Netball Waikato.”

“Having a facility to regularly utilise would help us continue to grow as a region. It would give Netball Waikato a solid base to work from, and a place our teams could call their own. The facility would provide us with a quality place to train, as well as a place to play on a regular basis, as opposed to using school gyms only when available.”

“It would give us the opportunity to hold events in Hamilton such as the New Zealand Age Group Tournaments, New Zealand Secondary School Tournaments, Lion Foundation National Championship games, Lois Muir National Championship games, and Inter-Region Super 12 Club matches,” said Sinnamon.

Waikato Regional Volleyball Association president and chair spokesperson Dave Macpherson says: “the HCIRC would be welcomed by the local volleyball community. Currently when we run our Waikato Senior and Junior School Volleyball competitions in the city it is challenging as these are not based out of one venue. Instead three or more competitions are played simultaneously in different venues each week, making it difficult for a small group of volunteers to manage.”

“The HCIRC would enable our sport to host key tournaments such as New Zealand’s biggest school event the National Secondary Schools Volleyball Championship, the North Island Junior Schools Volleyball Championships, and the National Club Volleyball Championships.

“We were recently offered the hosting of the last two events, which are held over five days with hundreds of teams entered, but we had to decline as no facility in the Waikato had the court capacity for these tournaments. This would change with the HCIRC and as a result the economic impact for the city would be immense.”

ENDS

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