Stride Into Sport Media Release

Media Release – 28th September 2022

Mallee Sports Assembly – Stride into Sport

Mallee Sports Assembly has been working with Regional Sport Victoria (RSV) to introduce the ‘Stride into Sport’ campaign, aiming to boost club registrations. This campaign will actively promote sporting opportunities available over the Summer and highlight how the barriers to sport can be overcome.

The impact of COVID-19 on regional community sports are still felt today. Amongst children and youth in Victoria (aged 4-19 years), there was a loss of 175,708 participants in 2020 compared to 2019. Many of these juniors cannot continue participating in community sports due to financial pressures and the risk of COVID-19. Causing an impact on fundamental movement and skill development which are so important.

Mallee Sports Assembly wants to support the vital social connection and community aspect of Summer sports. Through the help of some wonderful programs such as the Get Active Kids Vouchers, https://www.getactive.vic.gov.au/vouchers/ we can continue to get juniors striding back into the sports they love.

Executive Officer of the Mallee Sports Assembly, Carmel Mackay said how crucial junior participation was for the sporting communities

“It’s hugely important that we re-connect our young people after a drop off in participation and do our best to encourage them to get involved & get active over Summer,” she said.

“Juniors play an important role in the growth of our community sport, not to mention the individual physical and psychological benefits it brings to our young people in the community.”

“Stride into Sport provides an opportunity to focus on the registration period for our clubs to actively recruit and showcase the benefits of being involved in sport and active recreation. We would love to see more kids in our Mallee region stride into sport this summer season” For more information about Stride into Sport, visit https://www.regionalsportvictoria.org.au/stride-into-sport/

For more information regarding the organised sports available, please select your sport by visit https://sport.vic.gov.au/our-work/industry-development/Sport-and-Recreation-Victoria-Recognised-Organisations/state-sporting-associations

*VicHealth (24 February 2022) Victorian participation in organised sport, https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/publications/victorian-participation-in-organised-sport VicHealth, accessed 27 September 2022.