Game on for new Crawshaw sports court

A new dual-purpose basketball and netball court for community use will be opened in the Hamilton suburb of Crawshaw this week.

The Crawshaw Park hard court is the result of a collaborative project between Hamilton City Council, TalkingTech Foundation, First Credit Union, Sport New Zealand, Western Community Centre and Waikato District Health Board’s Healthy Eating Healthy Action programme, and will be formally opened this Friday, 28 September.

The construction of the court was funded through the Healthy Eating Healthy Action programme, First Credit Union provided the basketball and netball hoops, and TalkingTech Foundation and Sport New Zealand also made financial contributions.

Hamilton City Councillor Margaret Forsyth, also a current selector for the Silver Ferns, says the development and construction of the Crawshaw Park court shows how the community benefits when organisations and companies team up on a project.

“Our Community Development team has worked really hard on this project, and it’s very encouraging to see how the other organisations have responded and supported construction of this court,” says Cr Forsyth.

“Putting a facility like this into the Crawshaw community will help young netballers and basketballers perfect their skills and live healthy and active lives. I hope we’ll see some future stars of those sports emerge from this neighbourhood.”

Waikato District Health Board Planning and Funding Project Manager Dallas Honey says: "This community is proactive in terms of developing processes for identifying issues then finding solutions within the community. Healthy Eating, Healthy Action (HEHA), through the Māori Community Action Project and Leadership funding, supported one-off initiatives for the community that aligned with the HEHA goals and objectives."

District Health Board Senior Project Manager Grant O'Brien added:  "The HEHA programme provided seed funding to worthwhile community development initiatives where the goals of the project included longer term sustainable outcomes. The Crawshaw project is an excellent example where a number of organisations saw the value of  the netball courts as a lasting sporting facility for the Crawshaw community.

"The HEHA Programme has now finished and the legacy has been a total of approximately 200 community projects throughout the broarder Waikato district receiving similar seed funding for other worthwhile community initiatives. Many of these projects will provide lasting benefit through the ongoing community involvement in sport and other physical activity.”

The court will be formally opened on Friday, 28 September, at 1pm.