ATHLETICS –
Coles is helping Wyong Little Athletics Centre to jump a funding hurdle this season with a $1,200 grant from its Little Athletics Community Fund to buy new equipment.
Following inspiring performances from Australia’s track and field stars at the Tokyo Olympics, the Little Athletics Centre in Warnervale is hoping the new equipment will help budding athletes fulfill their sporting potential.
Wyong Little Athletics Centre President, Brendan Carlson, said the funding will help the centre to survive and thrive through challenging times.
“Our centre has been in the community since 1978 and in the immediate years pre-COVID we were experiencing a growth phase, however, we were forced to cap our numbers last season due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“We have high expectations that post-COVID we’ll get some growth again.
“The Coles grant will enable us to buy new javelins so that we can open up an extra throwing area thus providing a better experience for our athletes by decreasing the wait times for kids and parents.
“Grants like these also help to keep our registration fees as reasonable as possible so that we can continue to cater for the Wyong community,” Carlson said.
Coles Little Athletics Australia President, Andrew Pryor, said the grants will help Little Athletics Centres across the country to develop the next generation of Olympians as the sport builds towards Brisbane 2032.
“We are entering a very exciting period for Little Athletics following the success of Tokyo 2020 and as we set our sights on Brisbane 2032.
“Around 75 per cent of the Australian track and field team who competed in the Tokyo Olymics and a further 23 per cent of para-athletes in the Paralympics, had their start in Little Athletics, that’s why support like this from Coles is so important.
“The grants will help ensure little athletes of today have all the resources they need to develop into Olympians of the future, if that is the pathway they choose,” Pryor said.
More than $343,000 in sports equipment grants were distributed to 104 Little Athletics centres across Australia in the latest round of funding, taking the total contribution of the Coles Little Athletics Community Fund to over $2M in just three years.
Harry Mulholland