KDNA History

Kingston & Districts Netball Association (KDNA) was born in December 1999 as an amalgamation of two associations; Cheltenham Heights Netball Association playing out of LePage Park and Moorabbin Netball Association playing out of Dales Park.

Prior to KDNA, Cheltenham Heights was under the Presidency of Joan Young and Moorabbin was under the Presidency of Karen Byers. Both Presidents and Associations worked closely together to amalgamate, and KDNA commenced with Peter Hidson as the first President until December 2004. In the first four years of KDNA, Peter Hidson and the Committee of Management worked tirelessly to ensure only the best for KDNA. This saw eight newly resurfaced courts and a partnership with Cheltenham Secondary College indoor sports centre with two indoor netball courts. KDNA has utilised the use of the 2 indoor netball courts outside of school hours, running a night competition until 2013. KDNA continues to use for venue along with managing the facility out of school hours for other sporting clubs.

In 2009 Lee Oussoren (President of Assumption Netball Club) led the KDNA working party to successfully lobby Kingston Council and VicRoads to make Warrigal road a ‘no parking’ zone on weekends. No parking signs were installed in July of 2009 to maintain the safety of the KDNA Netball community.

In 2010, Lee Oussoren, with Coralie Buckley (President of Omega Netball Club) and Greg Papworth (KDNA President), met with Mayor of Kingston Council to discuss the growing needs for Netball at Dales Park. Discussions were centered on the regular flooding of grass car park area, the pavilion inadequacy to cater for the number of clubs and players, and the orientation of the Netball courts (East-West). KDNA Netball Clubs provided letters of support to Kingston Council to propose a Masterplan to be developed. 

In September 2015, Kingston Council committed $50,000 to develop the concepts of the Dales Park Masterplan: Stage 1 with the 8 courts to be re-oriented North-South, and Stage 2 construction of a New Pavilion. Funding for Stage 1 was committed by Kingston Council in May 2016.

Stage 1 redevelopment of Dales Park commenced in 2017 with Bill Leggart (KDNA treasurer) taking on the role of project managing. KDNA relocated to the 4 LePage Oval Netball Courts and utilized one court at LePage Primary School to operate the 2017 Spring Season. KDNA returned to Dales Park for the 2018 Autumn Season on the New Courts. In May 2018, KDNA was successful in gaining a $500,000 State Government Grant with the Female Friendly Sports Pavilion scheme. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Kingston Council and KDNA to commence Stage 2: New Pavilion and an additional 9th court. Coralie Buckley worked with K20 Architecture and Kingston Council to develop the plans for the needs of KDNA Netball aligned with Netball Victoria’s specifications. Building works commenced on the New Pavilion in July 2019.

The 2020 Autumn season came to an abrupt halt after only 3 rounds played due to the global COVID pandemic. In line with Government restrictions for the remainder of 2020, no community sports were able to run. Building work on the New Pavilion was also affected, resulting in a 12-month delay.

KDNA took occupancy of the New Dales Park Pavilion in April 2021 and saw the old pavilion demolished to make way for the 9th Court. Parkdale Community Bendigo Bank generously provided a grant of $14,000 to assist with furnishing the New Pavilion. Representative playing squads at KDNA are of a high standard with experienced coaches.