Students at East Launceston Primary School (ELPS) are set to make history as they attempt to break an Australian, and possibly world, record by continuously playing ga ga ball for over an hour.
The event will see students from Grade 3 to Grade 6 participate in the Australian record attempt in the newly constructed ga ga ball pit, a project funded by the ELPS Parents & Friends (P&F) Committee.
ELPS students have been training for over a month to ensure they meet the strict record attempt criteria, and they are eager to showcase their dedication and teamwork.
The school community is calling on local businesses, government representatives and the broader community to support their efforts—not only to celebrate the record attempt but also to back the P&F’s ongoing campaign to raise funds for the redevelopment of the school’s ageing pavilion/gymnasium.
The current pavilion is unable to accommodate the entire student body for school assemblies and is plagued by leaks, rising damp and mould issues, posing potential Work Health and Safety (WHS) concerns.
Despite repeated lobbying efforts by the P&F to federal politicians in the lead-up to the federal election, no funding to date has been allocated.
Meanwhile the Tasmanian Government continues to hock its poorly-planned Hobart Stadium dream, with the $1.9 billion project set to suck the life out of community sport funding for decades.
The stadium and associated costs are equivalent to the total spent by all Tasmanian governments on community sporting infrastructure and grants in the last sixty years.
The P&F now hopes the Tasmanian Government will step in with urgently needed financial support before the situation worsens to improve the school environment for students but also to take up exciting opportunities for sporting clubs some of whom have already expressed an interest in utilising a new gymnasium if it were available.
“It is such an exciting time for all students to be involved in an Australian record attempt,” said Emily Joyce, ELPS P&F Committee member, of the ga ga ball initiative.
“If they succeed, it will be a moment of immense pride and celebration for our school community.
However, an even sweeter victory would be securing government funding to complete the pavilion redevelopment—otherwise, it will take the P&F an extremely long time to raise the necessary funds.”
The record attempt will be adjudicated by an independent judge and the record attempt outcome and supporting documentation will be submitted to John and Helen Taylor of The Australian Book of Records for the final decision.
Featured image above: a ga ga ball – a variation of ‘poison ball’ – game being played in its characteristic pit, courtesy of Camp Pinewood (Flickr).
