Increased support needed to move towards a more active Roebourne

People passing through Roebourne on a Monday and Thursday afternoon will see a mass of happy faces as the local kids get out there with 'Roebourne Active', a physical activity initiative responding to the lack of local organised sport and recreation.

Related topics: active,children

24 September 2009

The multi-sport afternoon gives local youth the opportunity to try a sport they may never have experienced before such as tennis, touch rugby and badminton, and to encourage them to join local competition.

However a lack of volunteer support has seen the program struggle. Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR) Pilbara Indigenous sports development officer Victor Bellotti said help from families and the local sport and recreation industry was needed in order to sustain the project.

"We always have a good turn out, about 20 kids roll up, so we've good numbers and from the reaction of the kids they've received the program really well, but we still need more support from parents," Victor Bellotti said.

"The biggest problem is the lack of volunteers, there are a lot of mines around the place and anyone who is a good community member gets taken up by the mine jobs with long shifts, it's difficult to volunteer their time."

In order to ensure the program is sustainable, Victor Bellotti is countering issues with volunteer support by training the town's youth through leadership programs.

"The long term benefits of sticking with it and engaging the youth to take on some leadership responsibility will be a pool of well qualified people in the community for coaching and officiating," Mr Bellotti said.

"The best end result is for the kids to get involved in the local teams in the neighbouring towns of Karratha or Wickham. It's a mutual exchange, the Karratha and Wickham clubs increase their membership and at the same time increasing physical activity for the youth of Roebourne."

Basketball has proven to be the most popular sport in the program so far, resulting in a 10 week inter town match with two Karratha youth centres, while several families have joined the basketball competition in Wickham, 10 kilometres from Roebourne.

"We want to give the kids a better, more active, healthier life style and sport is a big part of helping do that," Mr Bellotti said.

The positive energy of the Roebourne kids soaking up the chance to play sport in their local communities is an opportunity all local Pilbara sports clubs are urged to embrace.

Email Victor or call 9182 2100 to get your sporting group involved in Roebourne Active.