A great partnership driven by students at Newstead Primary School has resulted in a fun new facility in the school playground. The 2024 senior leadership group approached Newstead Men’s Shed to build a Gaga Pit… but first they had to explain what it was!

“About eight months ago, we were doing some maintenance and the principal Cathy Callander asked us into her office,” Graeme Lees from Newstead Men’s Shed explained.

“There were about four kids who were part of a senior leadership program, they’d sat down and asked themselves ‘how can we improve the school?’ And they told us all about Gaga and asked us to build a Gaga pit. I looked at my bloke and he looked at me and we went: ‘What?’”

Gaga Ball is described by its promoters as ‘Australia’s fastest growing schoolyard game’ and there is a website that features rules and specs. “We had to Google it,” Graeme said. “The pit has to be an octagon and it has to be a certain height.” Gaga Ball is a fast-paced and simple game — reminiscent of ‘poison ball’ or ‘dodgeball’ — that seems to have originated at American summer-camps.

Graeme said the blokes at the Men’s Shed enjoyed the challenge of building the pit. “Because we were doing it from scratch, we had to scratch our heads a bit,” he said. “And we had to make a few changes and make it fit the yard, obviously.” He commended the fundraising work of the student leaders and said that Mount Alexander Timber and Hardware offered a really a good price for the materials. What a great outcome and a productive community partnership!

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 14 February 2025.