Children, teens given free access to summer sport

TEENAGERS on the Bellarine will have free access to sport this summer thanks to the Portarlington Cricket Club.

The club committee has voted in favour of removing playing fees for all junior cricketers in the 2026–2027 season.

President Tom Dewey said after investing in club infrastructure in recent years, it now has the funds to invest directly back into players.

“It has been on the radar for a few years,” Dewey said. “We’ve had a couple of great years with events that we’ve run and we’ve decided that now we’ve done all our investments with gear and infrastructure that we’ll put it back in to try and get more kids to play cricket.”

The club has received government funding in recent years to improve facilities, including new nets, electronic scoreboards and upgraded change rooms shared with the football netball club.

Dewey said the committee hoped increasing participation would help make even better use of those facilities.

As well as easing financial pressure on families, he said removing fees would give young people – particularly teenagers – more freedom to try the sport without commitment.

“Some of the feedback we’ve received is if parents aren’t sure if cricket is for their kids, they don’t want to make that financial investment,” Dewey said.

“Now if they want to come down for a week or for a season, there are no barriers.

“We’d also like to get as many kids from Bellarine Secondary College and the surrounding high schools to come in and play.

“Once they hit 15 it gets so hard to keep them going, so if they know there’s a bunch of kids from school that go and it’s free for them to come play together, we’ll keep encouraging that for as long as we can.”

Dewey said the decision was part of a broader long-term commitment to junior cricket at the club.

In the past three years, participation in the club’s youngest age group has grown from three players to 39.

“It’s not just a grab to try and get new juniors down,” he said. “It’s really because we want to keep those kids going through the junior ranks.”

Dewey also highlighted the social and community benefits of junior sport, saying cricket helped children develop teamwork, confidence and friendships.

Cricket clubs typically begin pre-season training to coincide with the end of winter sport in late September.