Open up school sport grounds to all
Upgrading public school facilities will meet demand for better grounds and help students, says Madeleine Ogilvie
A S an active member of our community and as a member of parliament, I enjoy spending as much time in the community as possible. One of the best parts of the week is heading out to watch children’ s sport on a Saturday morning.
Making sure our children are active is incredibly important and we should be doing everything we can to encourage that. While the physical health benefits of sport are widely known, mental health and social benefits are sometimes overlooked, but just as important. These apply to all ages but are amplified in a junior setting as children learn habits and attitudes they will carry for life.
One thing I have noticed as I have travelled around Hobart is the varying quality of the grounds our kids are playing on and the facilities they are expected to use. If we want to encourage young people to be active, and stay active through their lives, we need to give them the best tools to do so.
Varying ground quality has been a problem for many years and it is an issue I worked on through my involvement with community football, initiating the audit of change room facilities that kick started the facilities re think. To deliver the women’s AFL game we needed to sort out change room facilities. The Tasmanian government recognised this challenge, implementing the Level ling the Playing Field program, designed to ensure that as many grounds as possible have adequate facilities for male and female participants. This successful program has been kicking goals sorting out sub-par facilities. The women’s AFL game has exploded in popularity at the same time. The Tasmanian government has shown it takes this issue seriously, so it is time to take it a step further.
It is not just change rooms that need to be upgraded, the sports grounds themselves need investment. Many of our facilities were designed and built in the 1960 sand 1970s, as evidenced by the lack of female facilities at some venues and the fact they tend to cater only for football and cricket. As a former SFL president I can say I love my footy, and cricket is a superb game, but so too are net ball, rugby and soccer.
Nowadays I am finding that more and more kids want to expand their sporting horizons. It is not just about footy and cricket anymore. Times are changing and other sports are boo ming. As a former state net baller I hope to bring a voice for all sports to the table.
Soccer is experiencing an unprecedented rise. One in five families in my electorate of Clark are involved in soccer and all it takes is a trip to the Domain on a Saturday to witness this. I have spent many a frosty morning, coffee in hand, cheering on the 9- yearolds with the other parents.
A us Plays tats show soccer is now the most popular team sport in Tasmania by far, yet there has been a lack of investment in building and upgrading facilities to make sure our kids can play the world game. With the exciting news that Tasmania could host matches and training camps for the 2023 Women’ s World Cup, participation is predicted to surge again.
Grounds being stretched to their limits is already a concern for parents I have spoken to and I have raised concerns with Football Tasmania, which looks after soccer in the state. There are just not enough grounds to cater for demand.
After much discussion, I think the path forward is clear. The Tasmanian government should invest significantly in the grounds and facilities attached to our public schools and transform them into community sports hubs. Grounds, gyms, facilities and access all need to be lifted for the next generation. School facilities are ideally located, they are well integrated in our communities and there is existing infrastructure like car parking and public transport access. It always makes sense to invest more in public school infrastructure.
Pupils will have access to improved sporting infrastructure very school day, which along with greater links to local sporting clubs, could open pathways for them to become more involved in outof-school sporting pursuits.
Not only that, if the Tasmanian government is looking for stimulus projects, investing in sports infrastructure across the state is an absolute-no-brainer. We don’ t just need big ticket items to help accelerate our post-COVID economy, we need the smaller, school-focused projects that will really enhance communities and provide a positive legacy for years to come.
Our children are our future. Making sure they are given the best chance of a healthy, active and connected life should always be a priority and if we can help the economy and our schools at the same time, upgrading school sport facilities for community use makes perfect sense.