Help needed before sports tradition slowly slips away LETTER OF THE WEEK

CONGRATULATION to Glynis Nunn and the Gold Coast Bulletin for the timely junior sport special highlighting the lack of funding for grassroots sports in Australia.

As a nation we are world renowned for “punching above our weight” in sport which is an important part of our culture and identity.

Increases in the cost of living and sport registration fees at our local clubs and demands on parents’ time is making it harder for local clubs to survive. Volunteers are becoming scarcer and we need to find better funding models for local sport.

The CEO of the Australian Sports Foundation, Patrick Walker, made the salient point at a recent seminar on the Gold Coast that most of Australia’s corporate dollars go to charities that deal with day-to-day health and social problems with less than 1 per cent going to sport which actually helps prevent the social and health problems in the future.

What we do today in growing local sport and participation levels will impact on our community in 20 years’ time.

Sports Gold Coast is working to galvanise the Gold Coast business community into greater support for our local sports clubs through unique membership models and volunteers. It has been extremely successful to date, but only on a small scale.

The Gold Coast Academy of Sport also is making a difference by providing affordable sport training courses across a variety of sports.

Our Gold Coast Council through its city Sports Plan identifies the importance of sport to our city and is addressing this important issue.

Thank you once again to the Gold Coast Bulletin for promoting our local sport daily and addressing the cost of participation.

As a community we all must share the load by way of donations, volunteering and involvement. Our City has received a huge boost from the recent Commonwealth Games and cannot afford the lose momentum.

GEOFF SMITH CHAIRMAN, SPORTS GOLD COAST