LAST Sunday, AFL premiers Collingwood travelled half way across the world to begin its preseason training camp at altitude in Arizona.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
If Falls Creek Alpine Resort CEO David Herman has his way, those kinds of international expeditions will be a thing of the past.
While people might view the Melbourne Rebels trip to Falls Creek and Mt Beauty this week as little more than a public relations exercise, there are a number of other reasons why both parties have fuelled the promotion of the Rebels regional tour.
Falls Creek, which for years has been recognised as little more than a winter getaway, could soon become an all-year training venue.
The plan is to turn the resort into an altitude training facility, capable of catering to the world’s best sporting organisations and their athletes.
Herman says improvements to the resort’s facilities could soon see many of the world’s best athletes flock to the North East.
“Although we’re not at 2000 like Arizona — we’re still at 1600 metres so there are still significant training benefits,” Herman said.
Herman says hosting an elite sporting organisation such as the Melbourne Rebels, who will debut in rugby’s Super 15 competition in February, can only help in raising the resort’s international profile.
“Guys like Steve Moneghetti and James Tonkin have been coming up here and training at Falls Creek for many years so this is just taking it to that next step,” Herman said.
“Having a team like the Melbourne Rebels come down as a ‘guinea pig’ without all of the facilities in place is a real bonus for us.”
With financial support, the resort could soon have world-class equipment such as a full-size sporting field, gym and basketball court.
“We’ve canvassed the AFL teams and have had a good level of interest from all professional codes,” Herman said.
“We’ve got the designs, we’ve got the business case and now we’ve got to find support from government at state and federal level.
“This isn’t just about creating a Victorian-centric training facility, it’s about creating an Australian altitude training facility that allows us to attract athletes from overseas in their off-seasons.
“We’d love to be turning soil by 2012 and really getting this up and running.”
Although he believes there is still plenty of work to be done, Melbourne Rebels high performance manager Troy Thomson — the man responsible for the Rebels’ trip to the North East — says there is no reason why Falls Creek can’t become an elite training facility.
“There is certainly potential there,” Thomson said.
“The biggest thing is getting a training field up at that altitude which would be really good.
“Being able to run full training sessions up there would be the ideal scenario to get that full training effect.”
Thomson says that not only would expanding the resort’s facilities help attract foreign interest, it would also save Australian sporting clubs the expense of travelling overseas to conduct their training.
“Going to places like Arizona is quite big on the back pocket and for us being in Melbourne and trying to embrace the local community it’s a win-win situation,” Thomson said.
