Behavewell:Let them play

GIPPSPORT

LET them play or watch them walk away. It’s amessage that should be front of mind for us all as we gear up for an exciting new season of winter community sport,particularly when it comes to volunteers,match officialsand young participants.

Declining numbers in those areas is not unique to our region -orany particular sport -but is a reason for concern.

Last year, GippSport’s GippslandCommunity SportCensus found that community sport wasfinding it difficulttoretain and recruitnew volunteers, as well as umpires and referees.

Whenitcomes to youth participation, the reflexive response is often to blame technology as the main cause of decline,but local research tellsusit’s more complicated.

The Latrobe Health Assembly-funded Increasing Access to Sport project identified arange of barriers wereatplay, including time constraints,travel requirements and participation costs.

Importantly, though,itfound the community sporting club environment was highly influential in youth participation and retention.

Socialand performance-relatedpressures figured