FORMER members of the Ringwood Diving Club who will represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi this year have appealed to Maroondah residents to "get on board" for the proposed Ringwood Aquatic Centre redevelopment.
The $48 million regional aquatic centre will incorporate an extensive gymnasium and wellness complex.
The plan includes a 50-metre indoor pool, a warm-water program pool, a dedicated learners' pool and an extensive waterplay area with water slides, a play pool and a toddlers' pool.
The centre will also include a new 10-metre diving tower and a "dryland" diving training facility.
Last week, Victorian Institute of Sport divers Anabelle Smith, 17, Jaele Patrick, 22, and Grant Nel, 22, who were recently selected to represent Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in October, told the Journal the new centre would be a huge boost for the sport.
Patrick, a member of the diving club between 2002 and 2006, said she understood the community concern over a project costing almost $50 million, but hoped people would "think more of the future" and support the redevelopment.
"You do have to take one step back to take two steps forward and the benefits that it's going to bring in the long run is going to be huge, especially to develop our sport."
As a Lilydale resident, she drove for more than an hour, 11 times a week, to train at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, which she said was ridiculous.
"We basically outgrew this pool in our profession; it wasn't enough for us any more. They've got the bare minimum here and it's just not enough if you want to take the sport to an elite level.
''It's about time and I hope everybody gets on board because in the long run its going to be fantastic. I would definitely consider coming back to Ringwood with these new facilities."
Anabelle Smith, a club member from 2005-07, said the new facilities would help people to learn the basics of diving.
"At the moment, the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, where we train now, is the only place with all the platforms to learn off, and Australia is lacking platform divers."
Grant Nel, of Chirnside Park, was a club member from 2001-06. He said dryland diving made up almost 80-90 per cent of training. "Having a dry facility is vital for a diver to become great.
"I really believe if we can have the facility here, it's going to draw the kids in and be a great way to grow the sport, especially out here in the eastern suburbs.
"There might be a big uproar from people not wanting it here but once it's here everyone's going to enjoy it.
"How good is it going to be to have an Australian national championships here at Ringwood?"
Maroondah chief executive Frank Dixon said the upgraded Ringwood centre, to be renamed Maroondah Aquatic and Leisure, was a vital project for the region.
"It's important the council looks to the future to ensure we meet the expectations and needs of the Maroondah community.
"A new regional aquatic and leisure facility is an exciting project that will generate enormous community benefit and ensure significant and aquatic leisure facilities for Maroondah and the wider community into the next 50 years."
Mr Dixon said the council had set aside funding in this year's budget for the design works and continued community consultation for the centre.
The council was seeking "considerable funding" from the federal and state governments to help construct the new centre, he said.
Mayor Alex Makin announced last week that the council was seeking a grant of $10 million from the federal government towards the project.
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