'Game changing' indoor court facility officially opens
A $20 million new indoor sports arena in Taradale, described as a "game changer" for Hawke's Bay, has officially opened.
Set behind the 20-year-old Pettigrew Green Arena (PGA), it has tripled the number of courts for the four main indoor sports codes; basketball, volleyball, futsal and netball.
Regional Indoor Sports & Events Centre Trust (RISEC) chair Craig Waterhouse said the 5900m2 facility, named the Rodney Green Foundation Arena, increases indoor court capacity across the two arenas from three basketball and netball courts to nine, seven volleyball courts to 19 and one futsal court to four courts. Collectively the two arenas will be officially known as Rodney Green Arenas.
At 105 metres long and 49m wide the facility is now the equal largest indoor basketball centre in New Zealand, the largest volleyball centre and the largest equal futsal centre.
Basketball Hawke’s Bay general manager Nick Hogan says the significant growth in participation across the four codes over the last 10 years had created availability pressures with children as young as 8 years old playing games well past bedtime.
“No longer will children need to wait to play until late at night. With the new courts, we will be able to schedule primary and intermediate school basketball in windows that are age appropriate which is very important."
The new arena, built by Apollo Projects, received a $6.7m grant from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, administered by Kānoa, the Government’s Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit, $4.1m from Napier City Council, $2m from Hastings District Council and $3m from New Zealand Lotteries Significant Project Fund.
Waterhouse said demand for more indoor court space from our community in Hawke’s Bay was strong with basketball, volleyball, netball, futsal and badminton all experiencing significant growth which has created a major shortfall in court space in the region.
“This is reinforced by the fact that although we have tripled the court space with the new arena, it’s already at 90 per cent booking capacity for 2023 and we have also seen a 270 per cent increase in the use of the current three-court arena.
“The new arena boosts capacity from 480 available court booking nights to 1440, and we have booked 1298 nights already. When you triple the space and immediately book 90% of the space available, you know there is still a massive shortage.
Waterhouse added that 90 per cent of regular users are under the age of 19 years, with 30 per cent aged 3 to 11 years old. Māori and Pacifica participation rates are high, especially in basketball and volleyball.
“It’s important that we thank the Government, Napier City and Hastings District Council, New Zealand Lotteries as well as Rodney Green who has been a supporter of the venue and local sport for over 20 years.”
Napier MP Stuart Nash, who up until recently was the Minister of Regional Economic Development, says the new arena is a major investment from the Government that ensures more youth have greater access to participating in growth sports such as basketball, volleyball and futsal.
“Hawke’s Bay has lacked indoor court space for some time and with the ongoing growth in indoor sports, this will enable better scheduling of sports for younger children.
“It will also boost economic outcomes with the two arenas now capable of hosting large-scale national and international events.”
Napier mayor Kirsten Wise said there will be many positive well-being outcomes for the Napier community, especially with youth being major users.
“We want to make sport and recreation accessible for our people. Our councillors have visited and have seen the smiles on our youth that are enjoying the new arena. There is such an energetic buzz in both arenas and it’s great that there was enough land to have so many courts at one venue.”
Hastings District Council mayor Sandra Hazlehurst says it’s so exciting to have this wonderful new multi-purpose regional sports facility open.
“Pettigrew Green Arena’s new addition provides an indoor venue for regional and national sporting and entertainment events as well as being a fantastic community asset.
“Our council was proud to support the new PGA development recognising the rapidly increasing number of young people playing Volleyball, Netball, Futsal and Basketball. This facility is an investment in the health and well-being of our Hawke’s Bay youth.”
Basketball Hawke’s Bay is already exploring what tournaments it can attract to the region and has successfully secured hosting a Basketball New Zealand Central Zone secondary school qualifier tournament to be held in June.
They hosted the U13 central zone regional tournament last October as a trial tournament. “There are numerous possibilities for official BBNZ tournaments as well as opportunities to create our own tournaments.
“The additional courts will allow community basketball to continue to be played when the region’s national league team Bay Hawks are playing when previously we would have to cancel community basketball.
Central Football general manager Shane McKenzie says having four Futsal courts enables several league games to be played simultaneously which has created an exciting atmosphere for participants and supporters.
“It’s brilliant that we are now able to host all our community-based futsal junior and senior competitions in one purpose-built venue. We now have triple the number of community courts per night which has meant a great atmosphere with all our leagues taking place on the same night.
He adds that having the ability to shift to four full-sized courts enables Central Football to run senior High School championships on full-sized courts, better-preparing players for national tournaments.
Central Football will host the Ford Futsal Super League matches (National League) this weekend with Central Football Women playing Capital Football Women and Hawke’s Bay Futsal Men playing Capital Football.
“New Zealand Football are now aware of the capacity at the venue and will look at the venue for future events at National and Age Group level.”
Volleyball Hawke’s Bay says although the sport has grown in popularity the organisation has struggled to grow due to limited court space over the last few years.
“From our weekly school competitions to regional tournaments, we haven’t been able to provide a competition for our local clubs to compete in due to lack of court space. So this all changes now that we have this amazing venue.
Volleyball HB can now offer a club competition, a Pasifika Community Church Competition, and an Elite Competition as well as offer much-needed skill sessions for players of all ages.
The new arena was also built to the highest international volleyball specifications Increasing the opportunity for hosting national and international tournaments.
Hawke’s Bay Netball, which uses indoor courts for its premier league at PGA, says the six additional courts create new and exciting competitions such as Fast 5, walking netball and mixed competitions for clubs as well as dedicated male-only secondary school competition.
“The community can opt to play different styles of netball and we hope to see players returning to our sport and opting to try something different," general manager Denise Aiolupotea says.
“However, with this great opportunity for our community to participate comes with increased costs. Obviously, an indoor competition will incur more costs than outdoor and we are working hard to ensure the game stays affordable for all wanting to participate, this is no easy feat."
Hawke’s Bay Netball is currently in discussions to host the Lower North Island Secondary School Championships (LNISS) on the alternate year with Wellington, with the first event in 2024. The organisation is also in discussions with NZ Mixed & Men’s Netball Association (NZMMNA) to bring its Nationals in 2024.
