Give it a try: families flock to Festival of Sport

THOUSANDS of budding athletes poured into Kardinia Park to test their skills, celebrating another successful Festival of Sport.

More than 30 operators welcomed the community to learn about their sports on Friday last week, with niche operators running alongside local favourites.

For small clubs, the festival is an essential opportunity to bring new eyes to their sport.

Alana Holmes has been involved in calisthenics for three decades and said many people remain unaware of the sport unless they have a personal connection to it.

Coaching and competing for Eastside Calisthenics Club, she said it has provided generations of girls with friendship and confidence.

“Calisthenics teaches great life skills and keeps me flexible and mobile as I’m getting older.

“It’s really nice for little girls to grow up seeing older girls doing what they love and aspiring to learn new things and be like the older kids.

“We try to keep the sport really accessible, so events like this where people can come and have a chat with us is really nice.”

Inside the stadium, Geelong Gaels Gaelic Football and Hurling Club and Modern Pentathlon Victoria were hoping to attract the next generation.

With major changes to the sport in the past two years, namely the removal of show jumping in favour of obstacle, modern pentathlon provides a unique opportunity for children to compete not in one sport but five.

Geelong Gaels secretary John Reaney said the club had been growing stronger each year, with events such as the Festival of Sport helping introduce the Irish games to new audiences.

The gates had barely opened on Friday when the club’s first potential new recruit picked up a hurl.

“It’s great to come down here and promote our national Irish games to those in Geelong who don’t know about us,” Reaney said.

“We’ve already had two boys come straight over and asked us about hurling which is great.”

Water sports were also represented, including Geelong Underwater Hockey.

The competition has been played weekly in Corio since the 1970s, and the club recently celebrated several local players being selected in state teams.

Despite not having pool access at the event, president Matthew Walters was ready to talk up the sport.

He said underwater hockey was forgiving on the body and great for lung capacity.

“We’ve got juniors in late primary school playing with us up to older folks who might be in their 70s or 80s, male, female, everyone in between.

“And because of the support in the water, the wear and tear on the body is much less than running around on a grassy field.”

The Festival of Sport, run by the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust, takes place annually.