A PASSIONATE group of local parents have ensured Little Athletics will run in Ararat this season after fears of the organisation would fail to meet requirements.<\/p>\n
Ararat Little Athletics\u2019 inability to fill vacant committee roles at its AGM sparked concerns for the organisation\u2019s future, with all clubs requiring committees with defined roles to affiliate with Little Athletics Victoria.<\/p>\n
No affiliation means the club and its athletes are not insured.<\/p>\n
The new committee was voted it at the club\u2019s second AGM attempt last Monday, with Mike Turley and Laura Cameron voted in as president and vice-president respectively.<\/p>\n
Mr Turley says forming a committee is a \u201cbig relief\u201d, particularly for the 55 participants set to compete with the club this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe suffered, like a lot of organisations, with COVID and you lose that connection with the kids. Getting started up again last year with 55 kids was good. but with a lot of pressure with cost of living it is a challenge to retain kids or to pay for them to play several sports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur challenge this year is we want to try attract kids over the age of nine. It\u2019d be nice to have a few more senior kids around because having an age group with three kids isn\u2019t all that competitive and there\u2019s no real motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ararat Little Athletics will now set its sights to kicking off for the 2022\/23 season, which is set to launch on the first Thursday of term four.<\/p>\n
The club also hopes to put a $27,000 State Government grant to good use during the off-season; purchasing new equipment and training parents to coach kids across several of the sports.<\/p>\n
The club also hopes to be able to subsidise fees for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt adds up if you have multiple kids doing Little Aths as well as other sports, so hopefully we will be able to ease some of those burdens for those families,\u201d Mr Turley said.<\/p>\n
The new committee consists of:<\/p>\n