Changing trends in sport to be addressed at Power of Sport conference

As formal participation in many sport clubs declines, the upcoming Power of Sport conference will explore “one of the biggest challenges Australian sport has faced in the past 50 years.”

Conference co-promoter Martin Sheppard explains “formal sports participation for many sports clubs is reducing while social and recreational participation is increasing significantly.

“The Power of Sport conference has brought together sport, government and commercial sector to share their approaches and views of how the industry can embrace the challenges and meet the changing demands and needs of the sector.”

To be held at Sydney’s Rosehill Gardens on 3rd and 4th June and co-located with the National Synthetic Surfaces Conference & Expo (NSSCE), the Power of Sport conference has brought together some of Australia’s key sports organisations.

Among presentation at the Conference, Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Deputy General Manager Paul Fairweather will share the results of recent ASC research charting changing participation trends in Australian sport.

In addition Tennis Australia, Hockey Australia, AFL, Australian Rugby Union, Skateboarding Australia, Football NSW, Cricket NSW, Western Bulldogs, Fitness Australia and various government and not for profit organisations will share how they are developing programs, events and initiatives and activities to encourage greater participation in community sport.

Belgravia Health and Leisure Group Chairman Geoff Lord, whose businesses manage over $3 billion of sport and recreation assets for state and local governments, provides programs and activities to over 20 million participations at their centres annually as well as promoting more than 70 commercial health and fitness centres across Australia, passionately believes that both sport and recreation can work together for the benefits of community sport.

Lord explains “working with government, community and sports organisations we are perfectly suited to encourage and capitalise on the change in participation patterns that we have seen over the past decade or so.

“We strive to meet the local community needs and have many examples where our centres embrace local community sports organisations and integrate them into our recreational programs or provide pathways from our own recreational programs into the club structures.

“Swimming has been embracing this approach for decades and we have used our learnings from teaching 30,000 learn to swim and squad participants weekly into local swimming clubs, to work with many other clubs.”

Lord will be sharing Belgravia’s philosophy and vision for how community sport and community recreation organisations can work together for the future of the communities health and wellbeing – as well as how to grow sports participation

Click here for more information on the Power of Sport conference and the National Synthetic Surfaces Conference & Expo (NSSCE) or call 1300 789 845.

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