Time for Change
Community Standards
Times Change. Expectations Change. Standards Change.
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Individual health, wellbeing, safety and organisational risk management are all high on the list of priorities in a modern society. Especially when it comes to children.
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These are often the key drivers used, when prioritising the allocation of local, state and federal funding for junior sporting clubs. As recipients of government funding, many junior clubs have improved safety and amenity for participants, spectators and staff, via facility upgrades, the provision of new equipment and program development.
Since opening in the 1970s, Bayside Gymnastics Club has relied exclusively upon it's athletes, coaches and parents, to set up and pack down tonnes of heavy sports equipment every day, in order to operate. The club has lobbied unsuccessfully, for access to a council facility which would eliminate the need for daily heavy manual lifting, plus return to gymnasts, the training time being used for setting up a full gym and packing it away again.
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No other junior sport in the City of Frankston has successfully operated under similar conditions and disadvantages.
Gymnastics is one of the fastest growing sports in Victoria and is 80% female dominated. It is a demanding sport requiring high levels of dedication and skill but lags far behind other mainstream sports in terms of access to publicly owned facilities and government sporting investment. Gymnastics remains the only mainstream sport in the Frankston municipality to have received zero local, state and federal infrastructure funding in the last 20 years of massively increased sports funding. We invite you to compare funding figures here. Alternatively, information on gymnastics infrastructure spend can be independantly requested from local council, the local state MP or the local federal MP.
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No other junior sport in the City of Frankston has repeatedly evidenced such high level need and still remained without the advocacy and support required to remove or reduce those major impediments to participation, growth and most importantly.... safety.
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It's Time For Change.