Mercy Junortoun Sporting Precinct nominated for Cricket Victoria Community Awards
27/02/2025Catherine McAuley College Bendigo (CMCB) is delighted to announce that the Mercy Junortoun Sporting Precinct at our Coolock Campus has been selected as a finalist for the 2024/25 Cricket Victoria Indoor Facility of the Year award. The award celebrates “an Indoor facility that embraces the connection with the community and cricket to provide the best program experience to its participants”.
The award will be presented at Cricket Victoria’s Community Cricket Awards in Melbourne on Friday 21 March. Our College will be represented at the ceremony, to celebrate this achievement and for the announcement of awards. We congratulate all the individuals, clubs, associations, schools and centres that have been nominated for awards and who continue to grow the great game of cricket.
The Mercy Junortoun Sporting Precinct opened in September 2023 for the benefit of our students and the local community. This major development is a high quality state-of-the-art junior sporting hub. The precinct supports educational use during school hours and community use outside school hours.
The Cricket Hub area includes a six-lane cricket training net facility with operable walls, dedicated storage space and office administration area.
The project is a partnership between Catherine McAuley College Bendigo/Mercy Education Limited, the City of Greater Bendigo, Cricket Australia and the Victorian Government.
In its first 12 months the MJSP has not only become an integral part of scheduling the College’s Physical Education curriculum but also for the community.
The Greater Bendigo community and visitors to the area have been amazed by the facilities on offer. Below are some highlights of 2024.
- The cricket hub being part of many representative teams junior and senior selection trials.
- Fifteen local cricket clubs utilising the cricket hub in addition to Cricket Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades.
- Hosting the School Sport Victoria cricket finals for juniors and seniors.
- Providing opportunity for female cricketers to access a first-class training facility, to address the lack of training spaces for all genders and ages in the local area.
- Facilitating recreational pursuits for those living with disability.
- 24,186 participants going through the doors with the vast majority being juniors.
- Utilisation of the MJSP by 46 community organisations across cricket and a range of sport programs for training and competition.
Congratulations to all involved in the development and use of the MJSP – you are integral to this nomination by Cricket Victoria which recognises “outstanding contribution to the game”.
Mr Brian Turner, Principal
