MidCoast Outdoor Sports Court Strategy – Final
The MidCoast Outdoor Sports Court Strategy 2023 – 2035 is a critical supporting document to the
MidCoast Open Space and Recreation Strategy 2023 – 2035 (OSRS). The OSRS sets out the vision,
guiding principles and aspirations for our public open space, how we use it and how we care for it. This
Court Strategy is an asset specific planning document focused on one of the components of our public
open space, outdoor sports courts.
One of the eight guiding principles we have adopted in the OSRS is use knowledge and evidence based
management.
Therefore, the Outdoor Sports Court Strategy has been developed based on a foundation of evidence,
and every recommendation contained within the Action Plan is then based on that evidence. This
approach will ensure that in the future every sports court that we have will be where it needs to be and
provide value based on evidence.
The Strategy highlights that sports courts are provided for several different sports, namely; tennis,
croquet, netball, basketball, and emerging sports such as pickleball. Some of these sports have a rich
history in Australia and our region. Sports such as tennis and croquet were introduced in the 1800’s and
many courts were built. You can still see them in our small villages, such as Krimbiki and Killabakh.
These facilities were the centre of each community, with picnics and dances being held at the
community halls often built right next to the tennis or croquet court. People would travel for many miles
to attend these events. There is a legacy with these facilities and the Strategy respects this. The
Strategy also looks at more modern sports such as netball and basketball, and most recently pickleball.