Following flooding and two relocations, the Murraylands Gymnastics Academy finally has a bright future after being awarded $1.5M for a new purpose-built facility.
The team can now build a new regional gymnastics centre at the Murray Bridge Showgrounds thanks to the Australian Government’s Play Our Way grants program.
The funds are on top of $320,000 announced earlier this year from the same funding program to purchase much-needed equipment, taking the total haul to $1.82M for the club this year.
Academy head coach Jemma Tilley said she and the club’s volunteers “fell to the floor crying” when they the news.
“To hear this news means that we are secure for the next 40 or 50 years. We’ll have a building that’s probably three times bigger than what we’re in at the moment. We’ll be able to have pits, which will be awesome, trampolining and bringing a whole lot of other gynmastics activities that we can do in the facillities as well,” coach Jemma Tilley told ARN’s Adam Connelly and Chris Guscott on Monday.
The club’s Thomas Street site was damaged by flash flooding and mould in November 2023 with the team having to pack up and find new small but temporary facility at Chris Collins Court.
The new facility will have the capacity to double memberships over the next 10 years and will have capacity for formal competitions and multiple programs could be run simultaneously.
