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La Trobe University, Softball Australia and Softball Victoria have entered into a partnership, announcing the relocation of the softball organisations’ headquarters to the new La Trobe Sports Stadium in Bundoora.

The move will enable Softball Australia and La Trobe to work together to build real-world industry experiences for students, as well as providing Softball Australia and Softball Victoria with access to La Trobe’s cutting-edge sports management and sports science expertise.

The state-of-the-art stadium is part of La Trobe’s $150 million Sports Park development, which includes teaching and research facilities, an elite performance space and world-class sporting facilities available for elite sports and local communities alike.

The Sports Park is a key component of the University’s ambitious $5 billion plan to transform the Melbourne campus into a University City of the Future.

Dean and Head of La Trobe University’s School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, and Director of La Trobe Sport, Professor Russell Hoye, said the University is thrilled to be the new home for Softball Australia and Softball Victoria, advising “this partnership provides great benefits for La Trobe students to improve their employability skills, gain valuable work experience in the growing sport industry and get involved in research projects and events run in a number of locations across the country.

“Softball are the next tenants to officially join the La Trobe Sports Park and become part of our sporting community that already includes 26 La Trobe University sport clubs and other major sport partners, including Carlton Football Club, Melbourne City Football Club, the Melbourne Rebels and the Northern Football Netball League.”

Stating that the partnership is a huge step forward for the organisation, Softball Australia Chief Executive, David Pryles noted “our High-Performance team in particular will have access to state of the art facilities and infrastructure to continue to improve our athletes.

“Not only that, we’re also excited to be able to utilise La Trobe students in internship roles across the organisation, we also look forward to hosting Annual General Meetings, conferences for scorers, officials, coaches and the like with function rooms also available to us.”

“We’re a National Sporting Organisation so it’s going to be great for us to be based in surroundings that reflect that.”

Softball Victoria Chief Executive Nick Frayne said to have immediate access to training facilities and conference rooms is invaluable for not only Softball Victoria but its member associations.

Frayne added “it’s certainly exciting as a member-based organisation to be part of such a progressive, sport-focused University like La Trobe and we are looking forward to the opportunities that this partnership will present in the future.”

Along with the location change, La Trobe University will become an Official Partner of Softball Australia with an overarching objective of providing their students with experience in the sport industry and the engagement of Softball Australia athletes for various research projects in wellbeing, Performance and Recovery amongst other areas.

Background
The La Trobe Sports Park phase two has just been completed and includes:

• A teaching and research building (designed with 6-star Green Star rating), including world-class sport science and analytics research laboratories
• An indoor stadium, complete with six, multi-purpose highball courts
• Office space for commercial tenants.

This follows new facilities that opened in December as part of phase one to complement La Trobe’s existing lower playing field and baseball diamond:

• A FIFA-1 accredited synthetic football pitch
• An AFL oval with a playing surface larger than Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium
• A Pavilion with club rooms, change rooms and a multi-purpose function room with capacity to seat 132 people

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