By Rose Leban and Mikayla van Loon
Morrison Reserve’s netball courts located in Mount Evelyn have recently been upgraded with new lighting, fencing, and resurfacing.
Sarah Kleverkamp, president of the Mount Evelyn Netball Club, says this is a huge win for the facility especially as wet weather is expected soon.
“It’s definitely safer, because we don’t have the dips and bumps that we did and I’m hoping it means it’s a little bit easier when it is wet,” Kleverkamp said.
Not only are the improvements good for the teams, it’s also a massive improvement for the community as people use the facilities regularly for recreation purposes.
“We have schools that use it when they do the round robins and things like events.”
“It’s such an amazing facility to have in this community,” said Kleverkamp
Having four well lit netball courts in one location, Kleverkamp said is a rarity and hopes it will “lift the profile” of the sporting complex.
Originally the lighting was a big issue because the reserve hosted 20 teams for training each week.
They had been looking to upgrade the lighting beforehand, as they saw the issues it created especially in winter times when after past 5pm it was dark.
“We only had the old tennis lighting from years ago. It was the tennis club, so we just had that original lighting there, so it was only on the front two courts. So it was a bit tricky trying to fit all our training in.”
The asphalt surface was also upgraded with an acrylic coating, as Kleverkamp said less and less people nowadays want to be playing on asphalt and they aren’t being used as much anymore.
“I don’t expect we’re going to have the grazed knees and band aids anymore,” she said.
The netball court revamp was part of Yarra Ranges Council’s master plan for the reserve.
All the replacements happened progressively over a few months starting in December, with construction going smoothly with minimal impact on training.
“It all actually went really smoothly with the construction. The communication during the construction was great. So we didn’t actually have too much impact with our training.”
Morrison Reserve is used by many, these upgrades were essential for a safer and happier environment for recreational activities.
“We feel like we’re a bit more up to date now, a little bit more attractive.”
