WITH an upgrade of the Tynwald Park sports facility planned for the near future, sporting clubs are expecting a greater uptake in junior and senior level sports.
In the plans released by the Derwent Valley Council, the $900,000 redevelopments will see new changerooms for both males and female teams, improved coaches’ boxes and a grandstand to be added beside the existing clubrooms, which will also see an extensive makeover.
Derwent Valley Mayor Ben Shaw said it was pleasing to see the project finally get under way as the facility upgrade, which received its federal funding almost three years ago, was neeedd for the growing town.
“It’s been a long-awaited project that our junior football and cricket clubs have been looking forward to and will bring us up to modern standards,” Mr Shaw said.
New Norfolk Junior Cricket Club president Jamie Hill said he believed this to be the biggest thing to happen to junior sport development in the Derwent Valley for 30 years.
“Junior sports continue to grow here, and we’ve outgrown our facilities, so for us to keep moving forward, we need the right facilities, and then I believe with that we can double our numbers in the next few years, especially with girls and women coming on board.”
New Norfolk Junior Football Club registrar Justin Benson, echoed the statement.
“We now have 260 players and a big growth in girl’s football, so being able to have separate changerooms is going to be magnificent going forward, as well as having a spot for teams to meet before or after games is going to be big,” he said.
Previous election commitments to Tynwald Park are also planned to be rolled out over the next twelve months, which will include on-field upgrades, as well as lights for the soccer ground.
The project is expected to be completed by 2022.