KidSport encourages more kids to get involved with local sport

13 November 2013

Peter Katsambanis, Liberal Member for North Metropolitan Region, has today celebrated the phenomenal take-up of the WA Liberal National Government’s popular ‘KidSport’ program, especially in Perth’s northern suburbs.

The program enables WA kids to get involved in community sport and recreation, regardless of their financial situation. Kids aged 5–18 years, if eligible, can apply for financial assistance to contribute towards club fees.

KidSport has now assisted more than 4,000 children in the City of Wanneroo and the City of Stirling alone, ranking these two northern suburbs municipalities at number 1 and number 2 across the whole state.

“While the focus of KidSport is to ensure all WA kids can participate in sport, another key objective is to engage these children and their families in the wider community.” Mr Katsambanis said.

“Wanneroo Junior Football Club is just one local example of the phenomenal success of the program with 186 kids using KidSport vouchers to play Aussie Rules football, many of them for the very first time.

"In 2011 the Liberal-National Government committed $10 million over four years for KidSport, initially targeting 30,000 kids. As of this week, 24,073 kids have received 30,557 vouchers. This shows how successful this initiative has been with the WA community in a short period of time.” Mr Katsambanis said.

“Almost half of the children who have received KidSport assistance have never been registered with a club before. It’s fantastic to think that we are reaching so many kids who haven’t been involved in sporting clubs prior to this programme being implemented.

“The State Government will continue to support this vital program which financially assists children, who may not have the opportunity to do so otherwise, get into sport. I encourage all sporting clubs, local governments and families to continue to utilise this fantastic program.” Mr Katsambanis concluded.

For more information on KidSport, including information for families on how to apply, please visit http://clubsonline.dsr.wa.gov.au/kidsport