03 AUGUST 2022 | ISSUE 505 | FREE
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Pictured: Group photo of Little Athletics members at St Joseph’s Primary School
Little Athletics Nagambie
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ith a vision to provide local children with a sporting opportunity that will build skills, confidence, and motivation, create lifelong friendships and adopt a healthy attitude to physical fitness that they will take into adulthood, the Nagambie Little Athletics Club is edging closer to becoming a reality. There has been plenty of support to set up Little Athletics in Nagambie with over 100 children between the ages of 5 – 12 expressing their interest for the 2022/23 season scheduled to start by November. The age groups for the first year will be 12’s and under and this will expand as required. The season will run through to March 2023 and include a break over the Christmas period. The Executive team has been established with Clare Garrett holding the position as President, Louise Roberts is the Vice President, Sinead Hughes is the Secretary and Catrina Hutton has the role as club Treasurer. “There are many families raising their hands to volunteer and assist with registration, grounds committee, fundraising, first aid and general help for the days we run the athletics,” said Vice President Lousie Roberts. Club President Clare Garrett has developed an extensive business plan which has been forwarded to Little Athletics Victoria and the
Nagambie Little Athletics Club has achieved Incorporation status. “A lot of time and effort has been spent developing the business plan and we are now waiting to hear from Little Athletics Victoria to inform us of being officially affiliated. Catrina completed all the necessary paperwork to enable us to be Incorporated,” said Ms Roberts. St Joseph’s Primary School Nagambie has been busy preparing the school area to run the events on Saturday mornings come November. “We acknowledge the support from St Joseph’s School Principal Maree Findlay who has welcomed us with open arms. The school community has purchased storage to house our sporting equipment and they are very excited about bringing Little Athletics to Nagambie,” said Louise. The Nagambie Little Athletics Club has applied for grants to assist with the purchase of sporting equipment and they await the outcome of these submissions. Sporting equipment comes at a price with high jump mats costing $6,000, trollies and markers $4,000, and timers $1,000 just to name a few. “Currently we are looking for sponsors to help get this great initiative for our local kids off the ground. We need about $15,000 - $20,000 to make Little Athletics Nagambie a reality. This cost is mostly to cover equipment and to keep the cost for our local families down as much as possible,” said Louise. “We’d like to thank Little Athletics Albury who donated their hurdles for us to use and Sonya Roberts for transporting them from Albury to Nagambie.”
First impressions count and local designer, Patricia Sporle from PS Dezign studio has created the official Nagambie Little Athletics uniform. “Patty has donated her time and amazing skills to design our official Little Athletics top – we can’t wait to show these off,” said Louise.
12 boys and girls developed at a phenomenal rate. The association, now known as Little Athletics Victoria, has over 20,000 members competing on a weekly basis at 100 Centres across Victoria.
If you are interested in contributing to the Nagambie Little Athletics Club please contact: littleathleticsnagambie@outlook.com or Clare Garrett on 0439 269 182
Little Athletics History Little Athletics evolved, like most voluntary community organisations, through the mind and conscience of a community member. On an October day in 1963 three boys arrived at an athletics meeting in Geelong ready to compete. On approaching an official they were told that they were too young to take part. That official was Trevor Billingham. The disappointment, evident in the boys, left a marked impression with Mr Billingham.The thought was forgotten but he was reminded of it several months later. At a coaching clinic designed for secondary school students it was noted that the majority of children were of primary school age.
Pictured: Clare Garrett and Catrina Hutton with Renee from Bendigo Bank
Reminded of his earlier experience, Trevor Billingham had an idea. The answer to the need expressed in the children would be a simple Saturday morning athletics competition. On the first Saturday of October 1964, he met with a small group of children on a Geelong oval. They took part in a short program of running events. From that simple beginning, athletics for under
Pictured: Ezra and Zavier with hurdles from Albury Little Athletics that they have donated to our club