Rooty Hill RSL develops major aquatic and gymnastics facility

The Rooty Hill RSL in western Sydney has commenced construction of a $25 million gymnastics and aquatic centre.

Set to open in early 2013, the Sydney Gymnastics and Aquatic Centre (SGAC) is a bold new 7,800 metre² development by Rooty Hill RSL that features a 4,000 metre² Olympic-standard gymnastics facility, two 25 metre swimming pools, and a sports medicine and rehabilitation centre.

This significant community facility joins the Club's portfolio of entertainment, function and leisure destinations which includes AMF Bowling and M9 Laser Skirmish, ONE55 health & fitness (the largest independently-operated fitness centre in NSW), a 4.5 star, 160-room Novotel operated under franchise, two restaurants, three cafes, two large showrooms and multiple conference and banqueting facilities all serviced by the Club's own $4.5 million tri-generation power plant.

Rooty Hill RSL Chief Executive Richard Errington explains "our vision is to maintain our commitment to the community by providing responsible and varied entertainment and leisure options.

"A key element of our strategy is to reduce the clubs dependence on poker machines and we are already well on our way towards meeting this goal, the SGAC is a major part of this ongoing program."

When the SGAC is completed next year, the centre's most prominent facility will be the gymnastics area offering the capacity to train a wide variety of skill levels and cater for over 2,000 children per week. It will become the new home of Gymnastics NSW, and their elite program, which will relocate from Sydney Olympic Park into a custom built 1,200 seat arena serving as the launch pad for future Olympic and current world gymnastics champions.

The new Centre will also feature two 25 metre swimming pools, a dedicated Learn-to-Swim pool, the other a lap pool. Upon completion, the Learn-to-Swim program will have the capacity to offer more than 1,500 classes each week while the lap pool will be for casual swimmers and some of the 5,500 ONE55 members looking to extend their training programs. There will also be a deep water therapy component which will be used for group fitness classes and some rehabilitation programs.

The Sydney Gymnastics and Aquatic Centre at Rooty Hill RSL is the subject of a feature in the March/April 2012 issue of Australasian Leisure Management.

SGAC is already looking for key management staff to help turn their vision into a successful working venue.

Among these is a vacancy for a Centre Manager (General Manager Health, Fitness and Sports). Details of this vacancy can be found at http://careers.rootyhillrsl.com.au/job/job_search_result.cfm?from=direct