Read The Play aims to reach to thousands through more sports

LOCAL mental health service Read The Play (RTP) hopes a new strategic plan will help them reach 15,000 junior sport participants by the end of 2026.

RTP’s 2024-2026 Strategic Plan outlines increasing participation and expansion during 2025 and 2026 to include sporting codes such as cricket, soccer, rugby, rowing, baseball, and tennis.

“The biggest thing for us this year will be building our program suite,” RTP general manager Michelle Gerdtz said.

“We’ve got our fourth program under construction catering to 12- to 14-year-olds, and then we’ll look at attaining some grants to help implement these programs which will hopefully serve as a pilot to other sporting codes.

“Following this we will have a full suite of programs catering to 12-18 year-olds.”

The strategic plan outlines four objectives over the next three years; program evolution, visibility, partnerships and people, and strategic governance.

RTP reached 1,076 local athletes through its programs across football, netball, and basketball in 2023.

The organisation hopes to increase that number to 1,500 in 2024, 7,500 in 2025 in conjunction with the introduction of soccer and cricket programs, then ultimately to 15,000 in 2026.

Ms Gerdtz says the release of the organisation’s 2024-2026 Strategic Plan came on the back of a year highlighted by consolidation in 2023 following a devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

“In a financial sense, it was a break-even year, which was really important for us on the back of the pandemic, so that was a really good sign.

“There was a lot of work done to make the charity visible in the community and we certainly ticked a lot of boxes in that space, evidenced by our sold-out fundraising breakfast in August last year raising over $20,000.

“There were also some really good initiatives such as our sock fundraiser, which was well-received by clubs across the region, then we started working on our strategic plan which will now come into effect.”

RTP’s Read The Play Round will return this year from July 19-21 in partnership with AFL Barwon and Geelong & District Football Netball League.

The Fundraising Breakfast will again be held at GMHBA Stadium’s Presidents Room on July 18.

Head to readtheplay.org.au for more information on programs, future events and the new strategic plan.