The Ballarat Regional Tennis Centre is game, set, and match ready to serve up even more tennis day and night thanks to new court lighting at the popular venue.

Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison today officially opened lighting upgrades at the centre and inspected the progress of works on six new Hot Shot courts, made possible by a more than $1 million investment from the Victorian Government’s Community Sports Infrastructure Stimulus Program.

With over 250 members, 60 percent of which are juniors, the venue is a hub for social and competition tennis as well as a development centre for stars of the future to hone their skills.

The upgraded lighting across all 18 courts at the centre opens up the venue to more night training and twilight tournaments across all age groups.

There’s also a new online court booking system on the way to provide the public the opportunity to book courts online anywhere anytime – enabling greater community access to the facility.

The six new smaller courts under construction are designed to make it is easier for kids to play Hot Shots tennis – a dedicated junior form of the game which includes modified equipment and kid zones. The courts are expected to be complete in November 2022.

This project is one of the 70 to have shared in $178 million from the Community Sports Infrastructure Stimulus Program.

The Victorian Budget 2022/23 is also providing a further $88 million to deliver new and improved community sports infrastructure and programs to boost participation in local sports clubs and organisations.

The latest injection brings the Victorian Government’s investment in community sport and active recreation infrastructure to more than $1.2 billion since 2014.

Investments like these are all about creating jobs, stimulating local economies, levelling the playing field and fast-tracking community recovery by improving the health, wellbeing, and social outcomes for Victorian communities.

Juliana Addison acknowledged the Ballarat City Council for its more than $114,000 contribution and commitment to the project as well as Ballarat Regional Tennis Centre for chipping in $13,000.

For more information about sport infrastructure grant opportunities available through the Victorian Government visit sport.vic.gov.au

Quotes attributable to Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison MP

“Congratulations to the Ballarat Regional Tennis Centre – the lighting and soon to be completed Hot Shot courts are a game changer and will go a long way to supporting the growing numbers of juniors and seniors keen to have a hit.”

“The Centre upgrades add a whole new dimension and give the club the chance to ramp up its junior development programs as well as attract more senior tournaments.”