Written by All over the world children are joining clubs and teams, urged on by parents eager to do the best for their child’s enjoyment and development. There are those children though who don’t have the same access to opportunity as the others. Chief among these are the children of families from a lower socio-economic background.
A soccer club in Perth, Western Australia, is a shining example of the innovative ways in which clubs can remove these barriers without bankrupting the club itself in the process. The Balga Soccer Club offers free membership for kids, the payment; parents must contribute volunteer hours to the club.
The latest data from Sport Australia’s 2020 Ausplay survey indicates that parents are paying a median amount of $600 a year for their child to participate in sport. And assessing the mean figures, it blows out to over $1000 per year per child.
The Balga Soccer Club is located in a one of Perth’s most disadvantaged areas and the free program has been created out of pure necessity. This harnessing of unpaid help has also met another large issue head-on, that of the scarcity of volunteers. This program encourages volunteers to get on board through the provision of access to the equipment, grounds, and the community of the club.
For children to reach optimal development and manage their stress they need to develop of variety of skills. Play that is developmentally appropriate promotes the socio-emotional, cognitive, language, and self-regulation skills that nurture higher-level functioning and a prosocial brain. Far from being trivial, play provides the framework for the establishment of safe and stable relationships.
Sports aren’t just great for children’s bodies, but a vital part of their mental and emotional growth as well. The psychological benefits of organized sport are well documented. Participating in sport teaches children how to lose and being a good loser takes practice and maturity. Losing teaches children how to bounce back from disappointment, cope with unpleasant experiences and is an important part of becoming resilient.
Playing sport assists in teaching a child to learn how to control their emotions and redirect negative feelings into more positive ones. Patience, tolerance, cognizance of their surroundings and company are also massive benefits derived from participation in sport.
The president of the Balga Sports Club, Ken Shorto, said that without the fee-free trade-off, now in it’s fourth year, the club would not have been able to continue. The latest AusPlay population estimate of adult volunteers in sporting environments was 3.1 million people. Surely this is a testament to the great value of the unpaid worker in sports, and even better is that the children benefit so directly from this involvement.
“The Balga area is a completely multicultural community; the Balga Soccer Club is exactly the same.” “We’re creating a community, that’s what it is,” Mr. Shorto said.
Club stakeholders want to see wealthier clubs adopt similar cost-cutting collaborative programs; “I’d like to see us continue to make other people a little bit embarrassed… A little bit reflective on how they’re working, so maybe the whole system can change for the better, so more children can play without restrictions and restraints.” Mr. Short continued. He also revealed that people’s initial reaction to the concept was that it was ‘lower rung’, he said that the club wanted to change perceptions that the value and the culture of a club came purely from its financial position.
“We certainly get stereotyped a lot… this is Balga — we’re proud of Balga.” – Ken Shorto
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/developing-life-skills-through-sports