New indoor court facility proposed for Ngā Puna Wai

The Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub is being eyed as a potential home for a new indoor multi-court sporting facility.

Netsal, an organisation jointly set up by Mainland Football Federation and the Christchurch Netball Centre, wants to develop a 10-court indoor sports facility and has been working with Christchurch City Council on finding an appropriate site.

Next week a report will be brought to the Council which recommends that it begin consulting the public about the possibility of leasing reserve land at Ngā Puna Wai to Netsal so it can build the indoor courts there.

“Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub is ideally set up to accommodate a multi court indoor facility. Netsal will complement the sporting activities already being offered at Nga Puna Wai,’’ the Council report says.

Ngā Puna Wai, in Halswell, currently provides top-class sporting facilities for athletics, tennis, hockey, and rugby league. It was developed after the earthquakes by the sporting codes, in partnership with the Council.

The land being eyed for the new indoor courts is on the south-west side of Ngā Puna Wai. If the indoor courts are developed there, parking will be provided alongside them.

The Council report says there is a shortage of high quality multi-court indoor facilities in Christchurch. The city is one of the few in New Zealand where there is not at least one multi court indoor facility.

While the new indoor courts Netsal is planning to build will be predominantly used for netball and futsal - an indoor variant of soccer, which is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing sports - they will also be available for other sport and community use requiring high-quality indoor, sprung wooden floor surfaces and facilities.

“A large indoor facility will have benefits of being able to accommodate a range of other indoor sports organisations and diverse community groups,’’ the report says.

Read the full report here.

An artist's impression of the new Netsal Centre.