Games back on for local youth

REGISTRATION is now open for the Ballarat Regional Youth Games which will be taking place in 2024.

The games will begin with an Amazing Race style event in the April school holidays where participants aged 13 to 17 will have to solve clues across Ballarat.

Then over three days in the September school holidays 2024, the top 10 contestants from the Amazing Race round will take part in 10 challenges such as go karting, laser tag, and bowling.

The aim of the games is to promote positive mental health and physical activity, with the winning teenager also receiving a custom wrapped gaming PC.

The first Ballarat Regional Youth Games were held last month, and founder Sebastien Wattelet said the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

“Three days, 10 challenges, 10 teenagers and it couldn’t have gone better if I had $100,000,” he said.

“I had parents calling me in tears saying how much it impacted their child and that they hadn’t done things like stand-up paddle boarding before.”

Mr Wattelet received support from local business such as Xtreme Bounce, Ballarat Indoor Go Karts and Laser Force, and Showbiz Cinemas, but all other financial backing came from him and his wife.

“Financially we backed everything like the prizes and food, and we wanted to make sure everything was above board,” he said.

“I wanted to run it properly and as a yearly event that could run over time.”

Mr Wattelet first developed the idea last year after wanting to do something positive for teenagers in the Ballarat community.

“During lockdown my two teenage boys and started gaming and streaming online and we found out that a lot of online gaming is quite toxic and there is a lot of bullying,” he said.

“We were thinking how we can help build a meaningful community to help people.”

All businesses which took part in the event this year have agreed to take part in next year’s games, and Mr Wattelet is calling on any other organisations who may like to be involved.

“I’m going to be looking at business who might want to donate extra prizes because as this evolves and gets bigger, I’d love to have more prizes,” he said.

To register interest visit bit.ly/3YLlwvl and more information can be found by searching YouTube for Seb Tries 2 Play.