Newland Electorate

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:39): Today, I rise to talk about some local sporting clubs in my electorate of Newland and how the Marshall Liberal government is helping our sporting organisations recover from the COVID pandemic through a number of programs, including the Active Club grant program.

Sporting clubs play an important role in developing essential life skills like teamwork, leadership and problem solving. They encourage physical activity and adopting a healthy lifestyle and they help to foster close-knit communities. I am fully aware of how tough it has been for community sport and recreation during the last year with the restrictions that have been imposed through the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why it was great to get down to a few local clubs on the weekend with the Minister for Recreation Sport and Racing to congratulate these clubs on being successful in the Club Reboot Round of Active Club.

Tea Tree Gully Gymsports received $3,000 as part of this grant program to assist with equipment refurbishment. I would like to thank Gary and Tammy Page for showing me around and to hear directly from them about the plans they have for the future of that club. Tea Tree Gully Gymsports is South Australia's largest gymnastics club, with over 1,400 athletes, and the fourth largest club in Australia. I also understand it to be the largest kindergym in Australia. They offer a wide range of gym sports for all ages and abilities, including junior gymnastics, youth gymnastics, team gym and adult classes.

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge an award that Gymsports was also presented with, along with one of these Active Club grants, and this was to Peter Rostron OAM, who this year was awarded a medal of the Order of Australia for a whole bunch of things in the community, one of which included the establishment of the Tea Tree Gully Youth Club almost 50 years ago, which went on to become Tea Tree Gully Gymsports. On my behalf, I would certainly like to congratulate him on his contribution, but the Tea Tree Gully Gymsports is also very keen to congratulate him as well.

Another wonderful local sporting club to benefit from the Active Club program with $3,000 in funding was the Tea Tree Gully District Cricket Club. At the weekend, I went to the home ground of Pertaringa Oval with the Minister for Sport and Recreation to watch the B-grade take on the Port Adelaide Cricket Club. We got there just as they were about to start. Of course, there was a fair bit of rain on Saturday morning, so they were still drying out some of the approaches, but they got started. In what has been an up and down year for both the A-grade and B-grade, it was great for the B-grade to finish on a high with a strong 127 run win. I wish all grades the best of luck next year.

In particular, I would like to thank Gary Chillingworth, the Director of Cricket, for showing the minister and me around the change rooms and the new lighting upgrade, which was supported by a recent grassroots facilities program from the Marshall government. With the growth in both women's cricket and football, I have no doubt that the new unisex change rooms will attract more participants in local community sport. Gary; president, Ian Graham; secretary, Scott Simmonds; and the rest of the committee have put in a lot of work, and I would certainly like to congratulate them on their efforts.

On Sunday just gone, I was also fortunate enough to attend the 2021 Ridgehaven Calisthenics Graceful Solo Competition. I would like to congratulate all competitors and coaches on the hard work that went into this wonderful evening. It was the very first time I had been to a calisthenics competition, and I really was incredibly impressed by their performances. I was a section sponsor for the junior champs, and the amount of effort and hours of training they put in every week—and no doubt their family in support of them put in—are really quite incredible.

It really was an honour and a privilege to be able to present the junior championship award, and I would like once again to congratulate the winner, Celina Gregory. In second place was Ava Vartuli and in third place was Kaylee-Jade Chau-Grossman. Ridgehaven Calisthenics has been a great local club providing kids of all ages and ability with the opportunity to learn about calisthenics. I would also like to acknowledge the current principal, Tracey Emes, who has very recently announced that she will be retiring and passing on to Brook Brown. Tracey has been the principal for 23 years and coaching for 35 years—an incredible contribution not only to calisthenics but also to sport within our local community.

There are so many great sporting clubs in the electorate of Newland. I would like to congratulate them, and all the volunteers who help to support those clubs, on all the effort they put in to keep their clubs going and ensuring that our kids and others have the ability to be active in our community. I wish them all the very best for the year ahead.