Northern councils are set to be inundated with feedback about the state of the region's sporting facilities.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Launceston Basketball Association president Craig Gibson said basketball was at "crisis point" while Hockey Tasmania chief executive officer Damian Smith said frustration was rife in the northern community.
Meanwhile, new Netball Tasmania CEO Mitch Coulson is keen to work with other sports to push for more indoor facilities.
People are invited to contribute to the Northern Tasmania Sport Facility Plan with an online survey open until May 20.
The aim is to develop a plan for the upgrade and development of facilities in the North for the next two decades.
Gibson said the four-court Elphin Sports Centre wasn't meeting the requirements of LBA's membership, even with it using school gyms and the Silverdome as well.
"I've been president for four years and we've been struggling for court space since then," he said.
"We've got kids playing through until 10:30pm and adults playing through to 11pm.
"We're seven days a week of basketball for about eight months of the year and five days a week for the other four."
Gibson highlighted the urgency of the matter.
"It's pretty much at crisis point to be honest with our facilities," he said.
"If something's not done in the next 12 months or so, then basketball in Launceston won't be growing anymore because we just can't fit."
He said there were about 1500 members and that could soon double with winter registrations.
"We've seen over the last three years a membership growth between 12 and 15 per cent a year up until this year," Gibson said.
"I reckon we're close to 30 per cent this year."
He feels the situation will eventually lead to people missing out on the sport.
"We've been struggling and I know there's a couple of developments in the wings that are supposed to come, they've been coming for two years or so," he said.
"But we don't have space. So at this stage next year, we'll be turning people away from basketball because we don't have courts for them to play on.
"And we start to impact the experience for those members that have been with us for a number of years by having to put in fabricated byes and we have to put on even later games."
He noted the knock-on effect for clubs.
"Training space is non-existent. We've got teams that are only able to train maybe once a fortnight because they can't get on courts," he said.
That includes junior representatives sides.
Gibson added NBL1 team Launceston Tornadoes were also having to navigate the limited court space.
LBA shares the multi-purpose complex with badminton, futsal, wrestling, table tennis, school basketball and community events.
"The ideal end goal would be to have a venue that can satisfy our domestic program as a basketball complex-only," Gibson said.
"Six to 10 courts would be fantastic because it would facilitate all of our members' games in one location, which reduces our logistics of getting game night managers, referees and equipment around.
"At the moment, we're across five venues some nights."
Gibson added a "six to 10 court venue on top of what's already in the market would see us okay".
"Then we're looking at using the other ones as flow over for training and any excess court space that was required," he said.
"I'll be honest, with six to 10, we couldn't fit our entire association in that venue for all the training, all the competition, it still wouldn't fit. But it would at least alleviate the problem we have right now."
Smith, who has been Hockey Tasmania CEO for four years, said his priority since day one had been pushing for funding for the redevelopment of the Northern Hockey Centre.
He said the lack of progress was heavily impacting participation.
"It's having a massive impact. It's a serious point in time for us in the region," he said.
"We have a fantastic facility in Hobart, our participation rates are consistently going up, we were nearly 20 per cent up on last year, whereas in Launceston they're going down.
"And there's a direct correlation between that and the facilities available to our members. It's just chalk and cheese.
"We've got some real concerns about Launceston and hence why it's been my number one priority to try and fix that because we know once it's fixed our profile changes basically overnight.
"I can bring events, I can even bring our Hockey One teams and play a national league game in Launceston."
He noted Launceston was missing out on hosting duties because of its facility.
"I've got a six-year runway of events coming to Tasmania, starting this year. I can't hold any Australian championships in the Launceston region while it sits as it is," he said.
"I've been saying this for years and my biggest frustration is we just seem to be dragging our feet on this one.
"And really, it's not safe for children, we've got kids walking through changerooms going into toilets and whatnot."
He added there were no toilets for people with a physical disability.
Smith said members were being urged to voice their concerns in the survey.
"We'll be strongly recommending they don't hold back in terms of what their thoughts are around the current state of the facility," he said.
"We'll be pushing pretty hard. It's great the survey's been done. But we've been trying to get redevelopment for the centre for years and years. It's getting to a point where the frustration in our hockey community in the North is impacting on our participation."
The CEO outlined what a fit-for-purpose facility would look like.
He said it would involve gutting the ground floor and building changerooms suitable for northern competitions and national championships.
Smith highlighted there was currently nowhere for officials to get changed which is crucial to hosting nationals.
He added an upgrade would also benefit other groups who use the centre such as schools, AFL 9s and athletics.
New Netball Tasmania CEO Mitch Coulson said the group was pushing for more indoor courts in the North.
He explained it made for a better experience for everyone in winter and highlighted elite netball is played indoors.
"We've got to be able to create opportunities for our young talented netballers to train and play in a like-for-like environment when compared with the elite level," he said.
He also feels more indoor facilities would help attract players to the sport.
Coulson has already started connecting with other sports leaders, including basketball.
"I'm really keen to work with those other sports that also need indoor facilities," he said.
"It's best case for all of us if we work together and towards having a centralised hub of indoor courts that we can work out the scheduling for and shared usage."
Northern Tasmania Development Corporation acting chief executive Karina Dambergs said the survey would help councils prioritise initiatives.
"This project seeks to provide a strategic sports facility plan which will provide an overarching direction to align each of the councils' policies with regional and state priorities," she said.
"This will help councils better identify priorities in terms of proposed sport facility projects and provide consistency for council decision-making."
Dambergs is looking forward to hearing from plenty of different sports.
"The results from the survey will allow us to create an evidenced-based approach to the planning, development and management of sport and recreation facilities in Northern Tasmania into the future, while ensuring the long-term needs of our community are adequately catered for," she said.
The development of the plan is being spearheaded by the NTDC, in collaboration with the City of Launceston, West Tamar, Meander Valley, Northern Midlands and George Town councils.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner