Outdated tracks, ageing courts: Bendigo’s school sport infrastructure under the spotlight

Bendigo’s high school athletes are training and competing on a patchwork of facilities that range from recently upgraded ovals to ageing synthetic tracks, a situation that school sport coordinators say is starting to pinch as participation numbers climb. The gap between what elite-level sport demands and what local schools can provide has become a recurring topic at the Bendigo Sports Assembly meetings this year.

Facilities under pressure

The Rosalind Park athletics track, used by Bendigo Senior Secondary College and several other schools for carnivals and training, has not had a major resurface since 2011. Coaches at the Bendigo University Athletics Club have told the city council that the surface is now well past its designed lifespan of eight to 10 years. The Kennington Reservoir running circuit, a popular cross-country venue, remains a dirt-and-gravel loop with no lighting, limiting its use to daylight hours for most of the school year.

Basketball and netball programs at Bendigo’s four public high schools rely heavily on the Bendigo Stadium on Nolan Street. The stadium, which opened in 2006 and underwent a $3.5 million expansion in 2019, hosts 12 courts, but school bookings are often squeezed out by senior competitions and weekend tournaments. At Bendigo South East College, the outdoor netball courts adjacent to the school on Dundas Street were last resurfaced in 2017 and now show significant cracking.

New facilities on the horizon

The Victorian Government’s School Sporting Facilities Program, announced in the 2025-26 state budget, has allocated $1.2 million for upgrades to high school sporting infrastructure in the Loddon Mallee region. Bendigo East Secondary College is in line for a new all-weather synthetic hockey field, replacing the grass pitch that becomes unplayable after heavy rain. Construction is expected to begin in early 2027, according to documents tabled in the Victorian Parliament in May.

Weeroona College on Crook Street has secured a $450,000 grant from Sport and Recreation Victoria to install floodlighting on its main oval, a project that will allow after-school training for the school’s Australian Rules and soccer programs. The lights are scheduled to be operational by the start of the 2027 school year.

For now, though, many Bendigo high school athletes are making do. The state cross-country championships, held at the Bendigo Jockey Club in July 2025, drew complaints from visiting coaches about the uneven grass surface on the course. The event will return to the same venue in 2026, the school sports association has confirmed.