Tennis ACT has unveiled draft concept plans for a proposed facility in the Gungahlin region. The exciting announcement was made on Thursday with former Australian Davis Cup player Wally Masur on hand to help unveil the plans along with Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Sport & Recreation, Yvette Berry, MLA.
The draft design shows 12 full specified International Tennis Federation (ITF) hard courts, two ANZ Tennis hot shots courts, along with a multi lined and multi use centre court that can be used for other sports. Masur highlighted the importance of building a facility with the capability to cater from grassroots players through to international competition.
“It can cater to the community at a lot of levels, from community tennis to social tennis, to competition play and if you get the facility right with ITF sanctioned courts, you can run world international junior events, national titles, ATP/WTA events, so the whole gamut can be covered with a good facility.”
Masur also reminisced about growing up in Canberra with quality facilities playing a key part in his own tennis journey.
“I can safely say, growing up in Canberra it was a massive benefit to me, as an aspiring tennis player, and it was a lot to do with the facilities. The facilities were so local and so close.”
With close to 85,000 people living in the Gungahlin region and no community tennis club, there is a huge opportunity to develop facilities that will serve the entire community and generations to come. Currently over 5000 kids participate in tennis in the Gungahlin region via their school curriculum but have no community club in Gungahlin to transition in to.
The release of the draft concept plans comes after Tennis ACT opened up a survey earlier this month seeking input from the Gungahlin community with the results so far indicating overwhelming support for the facility and highlighting that the current lack of courts is impacting accessibility and the frequency of people playing in the region.
RELATED: GUNGAHLIN TENNIS SURVEY
President of the Gungahlin Community Council, Peter Elford, said that access to adequate sporting facilities were important to the local community.
“The Gungahlin Community Council’s 2019 community survey highlighted a range of recreation options that were important to Gungahlin residents. Notably, more than 10% of responses identified “more tennis courts” as a top three priority – the highest response for a specific sport.”
“The development of Gungahlin is entering its final phase so it’s really important that the shortfall in community, sporting and recreational facilities in Gungahlin relative to the rest of Canberra is addressed. Tennis ACT’s proposal for a substantial facility in the district is very welcome.”
To view the proposed Gungahlin Tennis Facility draft concept plan click here.
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