AusLeisure

Delivered through its new $600,000 Capability Building Grant Program, Sport Australia is supporting the growth of small-to-medium Australian sports with funding of up to $30,000 having been awarded to 24 National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) and National Sporting Organisations for People with Disability (NSODs) to support them in areas of need.

Organisations will use the funding to deliver projects and initiatives that support participation, help them recruit and retain volunteers, improve their governance, or develop online educational and learning resources.

Sport Australia Acting Chief Executive Rob Dalton said the Capability Building Grant Program was designed to support smaller sporting organisations to take meaningful steps to improve the delivery of their sport, ultimately improving the quality of experience for coaches, officials, volunteers and players.

Dalton advised “these grants will provide some of the country’s smaller and emerging sports with valuable investment opportunities to support specific areas of need within their organisations.

“We received a number of quality applications which outlined some great initiatives to support areas like participation product design, volunteer engagement and recruitment strategies, training and education for match officials, and important research projects.”

Water Polo Australia Chief Executive Richard McInnes said supporting volunteers was critical to the growth and sustainability of water polo at all levels of the game and explained “we want to grow our sport but to do that we need more coaches, referees and volunteers across a range or roles.

“It is critical we understand what support our volunteers need and develop resources that are readily accessible and fit for purpose. By empowering and supporting our volunteers we contribute to creating a great experience for our participants, driving participation and retention rates, and keeps more Australians playing our game and staying active.”

Paddle Australia Chief Executive Phil Jones agreed noting “our paddling community relies almost entirely on our volunteers, not only to run competitions and events, but also to manage the sport at club, state and national level. With the increasing compliance issues that we are all facing, we need to find more innovative and effective ways to support our volunteer workforce. At the same time, we are looking at better ways to recruit, recognise and reward the people that contribute so much of their time and expertise. We are very grateful for the support of the Australian Government being provided under the Sport Australia Capability Building Grant Program.”

“The bulk of our volunteers are our on-snow guides who help people with any disability find freedom on snow,” Disabled Wintersport Australia Chief Executive Jenni Cole added.

“We provide extensive training to our volunteer guides, but we want to understand how we can support and engage them and keep them involved in snow sport.”

Cole said the funding will be used to pilot a pathway program for guides to progress through various levels of on-snow skills and snow safety and to look at ways of engaging volunteers that may not be confident on snow in other roles.

Federal Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck advised “we know that sporting organisations across the country have been affected in many ways and this additional support will help administrators carry out crucial work, enabling them to improve operations and bring participants and volunteers back to clubs.”

The list of successful applicants is available on Sport Australia’s website.

Image courtesy Paddle Australia Credit: Salty Dingo 2020

 

 

Related Articles

25th June 2021 - Latest data from Sport Australia reveals COVID-19 still impacting Australia’s return to sport

18th June 2021 - Sport Australia and Volunteer Australia look to enhance the volunteer experience

17th June 2021 - Women Sport Australia appoints Ruth Holdaway to the Board

4th June 2021 - Sport Australia defends ‘sports rorts’ funding allocations in Federal Court

18th May 2021 - Sport Australia and AIS acknowledge volunteers for delivering the ‘most important job in sport’

12th May 2021 - Sport Australia welcomes extension of Sporting Schools program

19th February 2021 - Sport Australia releases resources to help people return to activity

10th December 2020 - Sport Australia launches new resources for community clubs

17th November 2020 - Sport Australia and Volunteering Australia partner to promote volunteering in sporting communities post COVID

30th October 2020 - Latest Sport Australia AusPlay survey results focus on early impact of COVID-19 on sport and activity

14th October 2020 - Young athletes benefit from expanded Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program

29th September 2020 - Expressions of interest sought for chairperson for Sport Australia

30th June 2020 - Sport Australia and Suncorp partner to expand Team Girls initiative

24th May 2020 - Sport Australia launches toolkit to guide safe return of community sport

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.