Team Wales visit Australia ahead of Victoria

Head of Operations Matt Cosgrove and Head of Engagement Cathy Williams visit Victoria ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Last month, Team Wales became the first Country to visit the host city ahead of the Games in three years.

The team had the opportunity to meet the Organising Committee at their Head office in Geelong ahead of their site recce across the multiple regions, which will host and deliver an action packed sports program.

Matt Cosgrove, Head of Games Operations said ‘’It’s been a packed few days of collating as much information as possible to bring back and help shape our planning. With the challenges of a Games being all the way over in Australia and spread across five different sites in the region we needed to ensure collectively we asked key questions, looked at every detail possible and how we can best support the wider team in three years time.’’

The first ever multi city Games, with hubs in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Gippsland and Shepparton will be home to the Worlds best athletes during March 17-29 2026.

The five regional hubs will host 20 sports and a record 9 para sports across the 12 days of competition, with Golf and Coastal Rowing making their Commonwealth debut. The Melbourne Cricket Ground will stage the impressive Opening Ceremony and Kardinia Park in Geelong will close the 23rd Commonwealth Games.

The visit also gave the team an opportunity to source additional accommodation for support staff, potential venues for Team Wales events and valuable opportunities to meet the local Welsh community.

Head of Engagement Cathy Williams said ‘This recce has been hugely beneficial for us as an Organisation, on both an operational and engagement level; meeting key team members within the OC, locals in each of the hubs and of course catching up with the Welsh locals and building that local network which is paramount for us as we live so far away from Victoria’’

Rebecca Edwards Symmons, Commonwealth Games Wales CEO added;

‘’This recce was crucial for Cathy and Matt to go out to Victoria to really have a feel for the area and the logistics of taking a team over to the Games in 2026. The information gathered and shared on their return has really added value to our planning going forward. We look forward to the next 3 years of preparation to deliver the best prepared team going into Victoria 2026.’’