Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday I had the great pleasure to tour the Manly Warringah Gymnastics Club in Cromer. The achievements of this club are nothing short of astounding.

The club has 2,371 members and over 220,000 visits per year. Employing 50 full- and part-time staff, it is the largest gymnastics club in NSW and the second largest in the nation. The club is entirely community owned and receives not a single cent from the government.

With coaching staff like Ming Lu and Xiaoquing Li, medal-winning coaches for the Chinese team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the club has had remarkable success. Forty per cent of the state team that went to the national championships were from the Manly Warringah Gymnastics club. In light of International Women's Day, it is important to note: the girls' team took more than 20 individual and all-round medals at the Prime Invitational in Singapore.

The club is in need of new premises. Presently the roof is too low and the building does not have adequate floor space for the club's needs. With a membership drawn from over 55 postcodes, the club services a significant area beyond the Northern Beaches. I will continue to push for new premises for the club to ensure its secure future on the Northern Beaches.