100,000 participant milestone reached in Australia's 'Just Play' program

A nine-year-old girl in the Solomon Islands has become the 100,000th participant in Australia's highly successful 'Just Play' program, according to Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Richard Marles.

Visiting the Solomon Islands Football Federation headquarters in Honiara, Secretary Marles said the 100,000 participant milestone had been reached by a student from Pipisu Primary School in South Malaita.

Secretary Marles explained "Just Play has provided thousands of children across the Pacific with the opportunity to build critical life skills through sport. This is creating social change in communities in Solomon Islands and across the Pacific.

"Just Play is ensuring a lasting impact by building the capacity of teachers and community members to independently deliver quality sporting activities for children."

Just Play is a social development program funded by the Australian Government and delivered in partnership with Football Federation Australia and the Oceania Football Confederation to 11 countries.

The program promotes physical activity for primary school-aged children while encouraging community involvement, healthy living and gender equality.

Just Play is based around structured activity programs as well as the distribution of equipment packs containing balls, cones, bibs, activity manuals and other resources that enable children to play football at anytime and in any situation.

The program is guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly Article 6: Children's Right to Play.

Recent review findings have shown that children who participate in Just Play are more motivated to go to school, develop positive citizenship skills and demonstrate strong leadership within their communities.

24th August 2009 - AUSTRALIA BOOSTS FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA-PACIFIC