The successful applicants for the first round of KiwiSport funding for 2018 were announced last week. A total of $55,078.95 was distributed between 29 applicants, including 19 schools, 8 organisations and 1 sports club.

Of those successful applicants, $17,702 across were specific to eight projects involved a range of sports. This correlates to our recent Be Part of the Team campaign, which stresses the importance of parents encouraging children to play multiple sports for as long as they can and avoiding specialization too early. Additionally, four basketball specific applications were approved, demonstrating how much this sport has grown in recent years.

“We’re seeing a real increase in schools applying for funding. Historically only 20% of applications have come from schools, but in this round 65% of applications were schools. It’s great to see the increased appetite from schools to provide more sporting opportunities” said Community Sport Manager Junior Armstrong.

“We want to support organisations to provide quality sporting experiences for kids through good coaching and more opportunities. These quality experiences will help young people participate in sport and physical activity for life and supporting the large number of volunteers in the community will help achieve this.”

Mr. Armstrong said that 47 applications were received with over half being successful. Funding for each project ranged from $300 to $5,000.

KiwiSport aims to get more children participating in sport, more often.

Funding is available twice a year with the next funding applications opening on Wednesday, 8th August 2018 with a closing date of September 5th.

The objectives of KiwiSport are increasing the number of school aged children participating in organised sport during school and after school; increasing the availability and accessibility of sport opportunities for all school aged children by strengthening links with sports clubs and supporting children in developing skills that will enable them to participate effectively in sport at both primary and secondary level.

KiwiSport is administered locally by Sport Hawke’s Bay and since it began in 2009, $3.5 million has been put into over 500 projects and programmes throughout the region.

Projects must also leverage additional contributions from other community groups, at least 35% of total project cost and build and strengthen linkages between schools and other community groups.

All applications can be made online at sporthb.net.nz or interested applicants can contact Community Sport Manager Junior Armstrong on (06) 845 9336 ext. 714. Contacting Sport Hawke’s Bay is recommended when filling out an application form.

>>> Click here for a full breakdown of 2018 Round 1 KiwiSport Funding <<<

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