Page 12 The Moorabool News – 18 January, 2022
Pandemic leaves sporting clubs dry of members Young people who swapped community sport for bike rides or other unstructured physical activities during COVID-19 lockdowns may not return – unless clubs find new ways to reengage them, research by Victoria University has revealed. The research showed that closed competitions and cancelled training for most of 2020 and 2021, sport club participation rates in Victoria plummeted. Registration records for the state’s most popular 10 sports, including AFL, cricket, gymnastics, netball, tennis, and swimming, indicate members fell from a 2019 peak of 868,000 -- representing more than 13 per cent of all Victorians -- to about 637,000, or less than 10 per cent in 2020. Just over half of all participants were aged under 14. VU researcher Professor Rochelle Eime said if clubs could not entice former members to return – and recruit new ones – community sport could lose a generation of people, especially children aged four to nine who showed the biggest drop-off. “The early adopter group missed out on school PE as well as club sport. Many have not yet developed skills to throw or kick a ball and don’t have much motivation or confidence to join clubs.”. Prof Eime said recruiting this group will require junior clubs to go back to basic skills development in a fun and inclusive environment. “Declining physical literacy of young children has been an issue for years, but the pandemic made it worse. If we don’t do something now, COVID-19’s legacy will be an even wider gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children. “Another reason for the dropoff may be due to parents who have reassessed time and cost
commitments of club sport compared to the less demanding activities that featured during lockdowns – especially those with several kids”, she said. Professor Eime said one solution to address this is for clubs to find flexible ways to involve the family in a range of competition and play formats, including informal sport. Previous research revealed participants join clubs primarily for enjoyment and socialising, meaning recruitment strategies must emphasise fun over premierships. This is especially true for girls and young women at another critical drop-out stage of adolescence. “Against this backdrop, clubs continue struggling to recruit and retain volunteers who are the lifeblood of these organisations, especially coaches”, Prof Eime said. It is too early for 2021 data, but anecdotal evidence shows some winter sports, such as soccer and AFL, have already started preseason training for 2022, in a signal they are eager to re-engage with their young members in new ways. VicHealth’s Future Healthy Executive Manager, Kristine Cooney said participation in physical activity, and the social connection it brings, is more important than ever for the mental and physical wellbeing of young people. “This new research is another example of how young people have been hardest hit by the pandemic,” she said. “We must work with sporting clubs and local communities to listen to our young people and understand what they need to be active and socially connected and it’s vital we create a Victoria where no young person is denied a future that is healthy, regardless of their postcode, bank balance or background.”
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(L-R) Matt Stephenson from East Gippsland Landcare Network, Craig from Phillip Island Nature Parks with Jazz the dog. Photo - submitted
Dogs sniff out friend and foe
The sense most used by detection dogs is smell and they are often called a sniffer dog and, they have a new purpose in the bush. These dogs are specifically trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones, but now, there is another use for them on the land. The conservation dogs are using their noses to help to sniff out friend and foe in land management practices with landcare groups and landholders. Trained sniffer dogs are being used to find the scat of native animals and feral pests to understand their diet and geographic spread within areas of East Gippsland and Queensland. The highly-trained canines are able to do it much quicker than people. Supported by a Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Grant, a program jointly managed by Landcare Australia, the National Landcare Network and Landcare peak bodies, the East Gippsland Landcare Network in Victoria recently used detection dogs to locate fox scat. Following the horrific Black Summer Bushfires in 2019, areas within the district were badly burnt, leaving native animals extremely vulnerable to foxes. The local Landcare group also wanted to understand how many foxes were in the district, what they ate, and where they roamed. Matt Stephenson, a Project Manager with the East Gippsland Landcare Network, said trained sniffer dogs brought over from Phillip Island were crucial for finding this information and did so in significantly
less time than if the Network relied on the legwork of its volunteers. “What would have taken a week and a half with three or four volunteers only took a day and a half with the dogs,” said Stephenson, when asked about the benefits of using canines for scat detection work. The dogs had previously been used for fox control to help protect the famous Little Penguins on Phillip Island, so they knew the scent they were looking for before they arrived to work. Dog handler, Craig Bester, said he chose English springer spaniels “to sniff out the fox waste because they naturally work from side to side in front of the handler.” Once collected, the droppings proved the feral foxes ate everything from small lizards and amphibians, to feasting on cattle and sheep carcasses, plus the odd lamb. Stephenson said this information, and an understanding of the fox number and range, all derived from the scat, will be used to strategize control of the vulpine (fox) population. In Queensland, the project will see sniffer dogs trialled to understand how well they can find Endangered Greater Gliders, which are notoriously difficult to locate using traditional methods of nocturnal spotlight searches. The $14 million Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Grants Program is supporting projects in regions impacted by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, and has been funded by the Australian Government’s Bushfire Recovery Program for Wildlife and their Habitat.
W R I T I NG LE T T E R S T O T H E E DI T OR Each letter must be accompanied with the writer’s full name, address and phone number (name and suburb for publication only) and be limited to 300 words. Letters to be received via post or email (preferred option). The Editor has the right to limit the amount of words in each letter received and published letters are at the discretion of the Editor. Send your letters to news@themooraboolnews.com.au
Dear Editor, So, the public-private partnership between Central Highlands Water and Midway, which will yield a small pile of woodchips and a couple of cents to investors, will also result in the destruction of local koala habitat (M/News, 11 Jan) and make another small contribution towards a denuded planet. Can anything be salvaged from this latest setback? Screening belts will not save the koalas in that particular neck of the woods. Can the harvest be deferred for a few years? Or can the plantation be logged a little at a time, while growing replacements on site? If logging were to be done in strips over a number of years, instead of felling the whole plantation at once, and replanting began without delay, that might offer a reprieve and a little time to establish alternative woodland in the area. There is land which might provide future koala habitat. One patch is right here on the edge of Gordon:- several large paddocks held by the Dept of Corrections which appear to be disused and would make a good-sized resource in just the right location, adjacent to existing known koala haunts. The prison labour to do the planting may also be available. Beyond that, we need changes to ensure that essential
wildlife habitat is not destroyed faster than it can be restored or protected. If we do indeed care about the survival of koalas and other native creatures, we have to take some deliberate actions both as private citizens, landowners, companies and public agencies. Otherwise, our unique fauna will certainly fall prey to the relentless expansion of human activity as it goes about its daily business. J. Maddox Gordon Dear Editor, The page 10 article (MNews 21 Dec 2021) headed "VCAT ruling disappoints" could be described as a major understatement. Our family moved to Bacchus Marsh, totally by choice, 50-years ago. We chose this lovely town mainly to establish a business, but also to raise our family in a semi-rural environment. One drive along The Avenue was enough to convince us that this is where we should be. It cannot be expected to be the same town after so long but, sadly, the charms of the beautiful Bacchus Marsh valley are quickly fading. The current Clifton Drive/Gisborne Road
residential and commercial projects are a sad example of why this is so. That area of Gisborne Road is somewhat of a traffic problem even now and I think with the new projects to come, and with the way some of our motorists drive like escaping bank robbers, it will ensure further confusion and delays. I'm sure the disappointment and frustration of Councillor Edwards is well shared by many of us who have long enjoyed the charms of this town and valley. These issues will continue as long as VCAT exists in its current form, with its power to override the best intentions of our Council who work to arrive at decisions in the best interest of us all. It's hard to believe that there is the possibility to do this. Nothing will stop the further development and changes to our town, the attractions to live away from congested cities is too great. But is the quest for the development profit so strong that some will totally ignore our councillors well considered and practical decisions to the detriment of a beautiful place to live? W. Beale Bacchus Marsh