Finding a Place for Gymnastics
in the City of Frankston
*Render of the 2022 Frankston City Council Advocacy Priority:
A District Basketball and Gymnastics Stadium
It's time to raise the profile of gymnastics in the City of Frankston.
Gymnastics remains the most overlooked mainstream sport in terms of government support, funding & access to community facilities. A female dominated sport, over the last 5 years gymnastics has consistently ranked in the top 5 participation activities for children 0-14 years, making it clearly one of the leading and most popular sports for Australian girls. Frankston needs a dedicated gymnastics facility to accomodate future demand.
THE PLAN.
TWO SPORTS, ONE FACILITY
Gymnastics has been one of the fastest growing participation sports in Australia, but is without access to any community funded facility in the City of Frankston, limiting participation numbers and program development. Frankston residents are also missing out on targeted funding initiatives available through the sport of gymnastics. Gymnastics Victoria is partnering with housing and support services across Victoria with funding from 'Together More Active‘. The initiative 'Head Start', will provide Kinder Gym participation opportunities to young families experiencing homelessness and/or socioeconomic disadvantage.
Frankston District Basketball Association (FDBA) is the most successful basketball association in the region. To future proof local growth in the sport and accomodate tournament player and spectator participation numbers, the FDBA requires additional courts plus a much needed upgrade to their existing facility.
The $45M Frankston Basketball Stadium Redevelopment is a 2022 council advocacy priority. This project will upgrade the existing basketball facility, add additional basketball courts and include a dedicated gymnastics facility for Bayside Gymnastics Club.
A MESSAGE FROM GYMNASTS
TO STATE & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
2019 Ausplay research found that in terms of the participation of Australian children aged 0-14 years in organised activities, gymnastics was equal third highest behind soccer (2nd) and swimming (1st). It was also the highest participation sport for girls in the 0 - 14 age group.
Gymsports are one of the largest employers of female coaches with well established youth accreditated pathways for coaching and judging within the sport.
Gymnastics Victoria has been at the forefront of developing and providing inclusive programs; a leader who was awarded the Excellence in Creating Inclusive Communities Victorian Disability Award in 2017.
Currently, these achievements remain largely unrecognised by local MPs. Representative voices on the issue of a gymnastics facility have long been silent, despite ongoing lobbying.
With all levels of Australian government actively focused on improving sporting and leadership outcomes for females, it is baffling that gymnastics - which consistently achieves the sporting holy grail double of top 3 female particitipation and high female employment - has been overlooked in over $100M of local sporting infrastructure spend in the last 7 years.
We call on our local MPs to get behind a council facility for gymnastics. This will create opportunities for growth in the sport and support initiatives promoting inclusion, female sports participation, female leadership and youth employment.