VicHealth announces Active Club Grants to get more Victorians moving

Health promotion foundation VicHealth is aiming to get more inactive Victorians taking part in community sport with this week’s announcement of $400,000 in new Active Club Grants funding announced.

As part of VicHealth’s long-term plan to get more Victorians living healthier lives, Active Club Grants provide funding to community sport clubs to start up new social programs and women and girls’ teams to make it easier and more attractive for less active Victorians to play sport.

Announcing the funding, Victorian Minister for Health, Jill Hennessy, said the Active Club Grants program has helped thousands of Victorians become more active, commenting “getting active is so important for our health and Victoria’s grassroots sports clubs play a vital role in helping people in the community to keep fit and healthy.

“Active Club Grants is about making club sport more accessible, so everyone can get involved in the sports they love regardless of their age, gender or ability.”

Victorian Minister for Sport John Eren welcomed the new funding for community sports clubs, advising “getting involved in sport doesn’t have to be competitive – you don’t have to be a star athlete to join in.

“We want our grassroots clubs to open more doors for everyone to get active, so encourage your local club to apply for a grant today.”

VicHealth Chief Executive Jerril Rechter said with increasing numbers of Victorians not doing enough physical activity to benefit their health, it was critical sports clubs were supported to provide more opportunities for people to get active.

Rechter added “our modern lifestyle is increasingly sedentary and less than a third of Australians are getting enough physical activity to be healthy.

“In particular women, people from disadvantaged communities and people with disability are more likely to be inactive and less likely to play sport.

“We know that too many people find sport intimidating and think that being active means you have play competitive sport, run a marathon or win a trophy.

“Our Active Club Grants program is about making sport fun, accessible and inclusive – we want everyone to have the opportunity to be active and healthy.

“I encourage community sports clubs to apply for a grant today, so we can get more people involved in sport across Victoria.”

Active Club Grants provide funding of up to $3,000 or up to $10,000 to community sport clubs to start up new social and modified sport programs, or to deliver new opportunities for women and girls to play sport.

Special consideration will be given to applications from clubs in areas of socioeconomic disadvantage and communities recovering from natural disasters.

Victorian clubs are encouraged to apply through the VicHealth website before applications close at 4pm Friday 2nd March 2018.

For further information go to www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/activeclub

Image courtesy of Football Federation Victoria. 

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