WA ISports has expressed its excitement for the group’s new-look headquarters at PC Payne Park.
The sporting organisation is getting ready for the community renovation project 2017 build day on Saturday, December 9.
The day includes live music, a sausage sizzle and sporting activities such as cricket, SNAG golf, and bocce.
The event signifies the facility’s official opening and coincides with National Disability Awareness Week.
The facility is comprised of two structures, with a veranda positioned between them.
One building will be used for office administration and committee meetings, while the other will serve as a storage container for sporting equipment.
Athlete representative Josef Bandera said the WA ISports community had eagerly anticipated having a new-and-improved facility.
“It’s quite emotional because our athletes have had their struggles through life,” he said.
“It’s for people to feel like they have got somewhere that they can call their home ground for their team.
“It’s somewhere for the athletes to hang out and just be who they are.”
WA ISports chair Allison Burnett said the facility would give the group a more “valued status” in the community.
“One of the challenges that we’ve had is being recognised as a professional sporting organisation in our own right,” she said.
“Being positioned here and having clubrooms and a location like this contributes to the recognition that we are a professional sporting organisation and part of the community.”
The project has been in development over the past 12 months.
The structures were delivered eight weeks ago, with Dreambuilders Church Bunbury in charge of the construction process.
Local businesses, WA ISports and Leschenault Men’s Shed also lent a hand to the redevelopments.
Community engagement pastor Kris Plumb said WA ISports and Dreambuilders welcomed all manner of community members.
“Our church is all about giving people a place to belong no matter what they believe,” he said.
“For us it’s more about the community and making sure people feel valued.
“When you look at a church getting support from local businesses to then facilitate a build for a disadvantaged group in the community…that’s unity.”
In October, the City of Bunbury council voted unanimously for the WA iSports’ deed of lease to change site location, moving the facility closer to the Bunbury Bulldogs’ clubrooms.
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