Colton Electorate Community Sport

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (15:33): My electorate of Colton is lucky to be home to fantastic recreation and sporting clubs. Sporting clubs provide an opportunity to learn skills that will help in life, our careers and our personal relationships. Through engagement in sport, people learn leadership, teamwork, problem solving, responsibility, self-discipline and a sense of initiative, which are all important skills for our day-to-day lives. I understand better than most the benefits that stem from being involved in a sporting club. My time involved in swimming clubs during my formative years has made me the person I am today, and I am grateful for the support I received from those clubs.

Our local clubs have done a fantastic job, keeping going through the uncertain times that have been caused by COVID-19. That is why I was excited to see the latest list of successful applicants for the Active Club reboot round. The Active Club grants help recreation and sports clubs with program and equipment funding up to and including $3,000, which we know can make a huge difference to many clubs. Over the past few weeks, I have enjoyed going out and visiting successful clubs to hand deliver their certificates and have a chat to see what they have been up to, what their plans are for the future and where the funding is going. The list of successful clubs in round 49 in my area in the western suburbs includes:

Adelaide Sailing Club;

Fulham Falcons Cricket Club—congratulations to their board members, including Andre D'Souza, Rob Lukosius and David Butler;

Girl Guides' state headquarters on Military Road;

Glenelg Tigers Baseball Club and Glenelg Lacrosse Club;

Gym West—again, I acknowledge Mick, Nick, and also Tina, who runs their KinderGym program. My son just started at Gym West in KinderGym and is absolutely loving it, so I cannot say anything but good things about Tina and the work she is doing down there;

Henley Sharks Football Club and former member of this place Paul Caica, Rod Hill and Stephen Higgins, and I am sure the Minister for Recreation and Sport is looking forward to going down there in just a few weeks, as I certainly am, to open the new changerooms;

Henley Hawks Volleyball Club—I would just like to put on record my thanks to outgoing president Michael Collins for all the time he has committed to the club;

Henley Sailing Club;

Henley Surf Club;

Lockleys Bowling Club—I just dropped off a couple of flags for them recently;

Seaside Tennis Club, powered by many mums and dads down there;

West Beach Tennis;

West Torrens Baseball Club, West Torrens Cricket Club and West Torrens Softball Club—I ducked in on the weekend to see the division 2 boys very briefly. Brian LeCornu was down there on the scorer's table, as he so frequently is with the division 2 boys; and

Westward Ho Golf Club—I just recently attended their end of season awards last week.

There are so many great people and volunteers in each and every one of those clubs and so many people I could mention today, as well as the other clubs that received awards based at the university playing fields in West Beach and at the West Beach Trust grounds.

This program was reprofiled in the wake of COVID-19 to do the best we could to support as many clubs as possible, recognising the additional cost burden that was placed upon clubs due to the COVID-19 circumstances, whether that be additional equipment, personal development, hygiene products or digital equipment to help with Zoom meetings or the like that needed to take place over that period.

This government has already committed over $21 million to support the sport and recreation sector through the COVID-19 pandemic. As we know, and as I have already said, so many of the clubs are run by volunteers and supported by volunteers. We understand that every dollar our government can provide helps to go a long way in ensuring those clubs are able to provide the very best of opportunities to our young athletes.

Again, my sincere thanks to everyone involved in keeping our local clubs up and running during this uncertain time and all the very best for the 2021 season to those clubs. To those who were not successful in this round, please make sure that you put in your applications for the next one. It is incredibly important. Something that I am incredibly passionate about is seeing as much investment as possible into the local sporting clubs in my area. Again, to all those volunteers out there and to all our kids involved in the sporting clubs in the local area: get out there and get involved.