By Russell Bennett
Despite the recent multi-million dollar upgrades to the Casey Indoor Leisure Centre, the City of Casey continues to have a major shortfall when it comes to indoor basketball stadia according to Basketball Victoria.
The Basketball Victoria facility wish-list – an extensive 174-page document titled the ‘Basketball Victoria Facility Master Plan – is essentially Basketball Victoria’s facilities strategy to address what it deems to be a “significant indoor court shortage” within the state’s sporting community.
According to the sport’s state body, facility development and expansion remain important aspects to maintaining the viability of basketball’s future.
Each municipality, or Victorian Local Government Area (LGA), across the state has been dissected within the masterplan, including the percentage of its population playing basketball, the current court provision, and any urgent needs for redevelopment or construction.
According to the document, “The City (of Casey) continues to have a major shortfall in indoor stadia provision. Based on catering for population growth, there is a need for an additional nine courts by 2021, assuming that those currently planned are focussed on addressing the current chronic shortfall across the municipality. There is a short to medium term need for a major indoor facility towards the south of the City.”
The masterplan states that there are plans to develop the centre on the St Peter’s College, Casey school site as well as a two-court facility at Botanic Ridge Primary School. There is also further money allocated in the council’s budget estimates for a 2018-’19 for a two-court facility at Alkira Secondary College.
In addition, the document states: “Council has identified the need to develop a major indoor stadium in the Clyde area”.
The Casey Basketball Association is one of two association servicing basketball in the City of Casey. It has grown by more than 60 per cent since 2011.
