OZ’s New Training Base

It’s like the X-Mansion for Aussie Athletes!

Take note, this new state of the art facility is in the Italian city of Gavirate and NOT in Australia. It will serve as the training center for sports like rowing, cycling, canoeing, athletics, triathlon, basketball, tennis, boxing, archery, shooting and VOLLEYBALL.

To READ the Full Article, click THIS.

Federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib has said that the brand new European Training Centre is a “key weapon in Australia’s battle to keep up with the bigger-spending nations in the lead-up to the London Olympics next year. We are up against the super powers of sport, in terms of the money being spent by other countries we cannot match it, all we can do is try to be smarter and more strategic about our resources.” “This sort of facility will give some of our key sports a competitive edge.” he adds.

Why in Italy? Well we found the answers.

• Save travel and accommodation expenses since most athletes train and compete in Europe.
• The Varese Province financed the project and also fully supports the project.
• The Oz Government leases the facility for 10 with an option to extend it for 5 years. The rental income and the athletes visiting the Varese Province will boost its economy.
• The weather is/was also a factor! The area is warm with a little rain and close to Milan and the international airport.
• Easy access to other European competition and training venues.

Australian volleyball player, Nathan Roberts, has added the following reasons:

• For several sports the seasons just don’t work. Hard to train for competitions for summer sports when its winter in Australia.
• Travel its tough doing a 30-36hr series of flights to Australia, this way the athletes have a place to rest/train in between there perspective competitions.

At first we thought that it would’ve been better if they built this NEW FACILITY in Australia so the fans of their various sports programs could check out the facility and also connect with the athletes but the reasons stated above allowed us to understand more.

The Australian government has committed $12.5 AUD to operate the Australian Institute of Sport. That’s a lot of money!

When we return to Europe, we want to check out this place. Exciting!

WATCH: The Australian Sports Institute.

(image: FIVB)