NZCT Lights Up Wellington Softball Association

NZCT has awarded the Wellington Softball Association a grant of $65,820 for new lighting towers and fencing at Hataitai Park.

Community Softball Manager Hannah Rodriguez said, "Our goal is to create an exciting atmosphere that is electric and inviting. Softball is very whānau orientated and that shows with all the support and volunteers we have. We love what the sport of softball has given to each one of our members."

The infrastructure at Hataitai Park, including our lighting towers and fencing, is aging and needed upgrading. Hataitai Park is the home of Wellington Softball and is where we host club games, national tournaments, our development programmes and plan to host international tests.

To ensure that we can host the latter, our infrastructure needed upgrading. The lighting towers were almost fifty years old and needed remedial work prior to us upgrading the actual lights. The fencing is approximately thirty years old and has also reached its end of life. We have just invested our own funds into upgrading the commentary box, building new dugouts, and purchasing a new outfield fence which cost approximately $40,000.

Rodriguez adds, "Our facilities have been around for a very long time and have seen better days. The grant from NZCT will alleviate a lot of the pressure we have with upgrading our facilities and we are currently talking with our suppliers to get those improvements on our fields up and running."

Improvements to our lighting towers and fencing will help facilitate our other aspirations such as hosting more development opportunities and provide a sound venue for high performance. These upgrades will create greater safety and value for our participants and supporters.

Wellington Softball Association incorporates fifteen clubs covering senior and junior teams within the Wellington City, Porirua City, and the Kapiti Coast District south of the Otaki River. Softball in Wellington has a strong tradition of producing national team members, competitive rivalry for national championships, and being a pivotal community for softball to flourish in this country. NZCT continues to keep this sport alive here in Wellington by helping with endeavours such as this. Thanks, NZCT.