Pandemic leaves sporting clubs dry of members

Young people who swapped community sport for bike rides or other unstructured physical activities during COVID-19 lockdowns may not return – unless clubs find new ways to re-engage them, research by Victoria University has revealed.

The research showed that closed competitions and cancelled training for most of 2020 and 2021, sport club participation rates in Victoria plummeted.

Registration records for the state’s most popular 10 sports, including AFL, cricket, gymnastics, netball, tennis, and swimming, indicate members fell from a 2019 peak of 868,000 — representing more than 13 per cent of all Victorians — to about 637,000, or less than 10 per cent in 2020.

Just over half of all participants were aged under 14.

VU researcher Professor Rochelle Eime said if clubs could not entice former members to return – and recruit new ones – community sport could lose a generation of people, especially children aged four to nine who showed the biggest drop-off.

“The early adopter group missed out on school PE as well as club sport. Many have not yet developed skills to throw or kick a ball and don’t have much motivation or confidence to join clubs.”.

Prof Eime said recruiting this group will require junior clubs to go back to basic skills development in a fun and inclusive environment.

“Declining physical literacy of young children has been an issue for years, but the pandemic made it worse. If we don’t do something now, COVID-19’s legacy will be an even wider gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children.

“Another reason for the drop-off may be due to parents who have reassessed time and cost commitments of club sport compared to the less demanding activities that featured during lockdowns – especially those with several kids”, she said.

Professor Eime said one solution to address this is for clubs to find flexible ways to involve the family in a range of competition and play formats, including informal sport.

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-01-18/12

in the 18 January 2022 edition
OR
pick up a paper around your town.