The Kojonup Sports Complex, located approximately 250km south-east of Perth, is set to transform its outdoor shed into a clubroom to finally give the Kojonup Netball Association an official headquarters.
The club was selected as a recipient of a $10,000 Netball WA Community Facilities Fund 2023 Grant to furnish the space.
The Netball WA Community Facilities Fund is created directly from the sales from the Netball WA Raffle.
Kojonup Netball Association President Nadine Milne said the committee has been wishing for a home like this ever since the Kojonup Sports Complex was upgraded in 2021.
“We are remodelling our clubhouse from a shed to a home,” she said.
“We have never had anywhere to hold our meetings or documents. Everything has been done from people’s houses. We even had to store our documents in tubs.
“This clubhouse will give us a space to hang our memorabilia and store club archives.”
This funding compliments the $1.9 million redevelopment to the Kojonup Sports Centre.
Four Netball courts were resurfaced in the new undercover facility, with enlarged runoff areas, new lighting and an outdoor playground all constructed in the development.
Ms Milne said Netball in Kojonup is as strong as ever with the upgraded facility encouraging greater growth of the sport in the region.
“We now host a NetSetGO carnival with teams from all across the Great Southern coming to our town,” she said.
“We have also started a Mixed Netball competition which is now in its second season and it has been absolutely phenomenal, we had more than 100 players from across 10 teams turn up.”
Shire of Kojonup Chief Executive Officer Grant Thompson said the youth in a regional town like Kojonup thrive when well-maintained sporting facilities are made available to the public.
“You cannot underestimate the value of this facility to a rural community,” he said.
“These types of facilities bring people together and the evidence is the fact that you can drive past the facility every day and people are using them for social gatherings, whether it is formal sports associations or informal groups of kids and people just having fun.”
He said sports clubs, such as the Kojonup Netball Association, are especially paramount to maintaining community wellbeing in a regional community.
“We can’t express enough the importance of sporting infrastructure and sporting clubs in the region,” he said.
“It creates cohesion in the community and helps combat isolation, mental health issues and is the glue that keeps the community in contact with each other.”
Ms Milne said despite the recent successes of her club, their dream of building a home to move into one day wouldn’t have been possible without the financial support of Netball WA.
“We really appreciate the opportunity from Netball WA. We are a tiny association and wouldn’t have been able to do it without their support,” she said.
The Kojonup Netball Association season is due to start up again in April. If you are interested in playing Netball, please visit www.wa.netball.com.au/get-involved.
By. Tom Shanahan
