FAQs

Referrals come via community services organisations, schools and sporting clubs who identify a family who are experiencing financial hardship and feel they would benefit from being involved in a community team sport.  We meet the family face to face and discuss their situation and needs to determine their eligibility for our service.  All families must hold a current health care/concession card.

Head to our Refer A Child page and complete the form.

We currently assist families who live in – Bayside, Kingston, Glen Eira, Stonnington, Port Phillip, Maroondah and Frankston.

We chat to the kids and find out what they enjoy doing and what sport they think they would like to play. We are guided by them; as long as it’s a team sport/activity we are open to it. At the moment we have children playing – AFL, soccer, netball, basketball, volleyball, baseball, gymnastics, dance, karate, scouts & grid iron. Other options could be lacrosse, hockey or taekwondo.

The families we help are experiencing financial hardship for many different reasons ranging from marriage breakdown, mental illness, family violence, generational poverty, lack of education, unemployment, substance abuse and crime.  Many of the families we assist are socially isolated and have minimal connection with their local community.

Some families require assistance for short periods and some for longer periods but every family is individual and we cater our service to their needs. We always encourage the family to strive to be able to get to a point where they are in a position to take overpaying for the fees or part thereof.

We find that once the parents are involved they start to see the benefits of sport for their children and start to want them to do more and more. The benefits are of course fitness but it also has a huge impact on their mental health and builds confidence and self esteem for the whole family. Over the years we have learnt that sport is the pathway to community connection and decreased social isolation. 

Being part of a team teaches children a sense of responsibility and accountability. They rely on their team mates and their team mates rely on them. They feel valued and needed and proud and it gives them a focus outside of what is often not an ideal home environment.

Over the past year we have met some amazing families but one foster parent in particular summed things up perfectly. It’s not the parents fault that they have not involved their children in sport, it’s because they have never known any different and never been exposed to the benefits of team sport. They are stuck in a cycle and our hope is that if we can show them the benefits, then they can be one step closer to breaking out of the cycle.

Our funding needs increase year on year as we continue to support the children already in our program and support new referrals. We need to make sure we have multiple streams of funding – these include our own fundraising – our Challenge Weekend and our Helping Hands Events, government and local grants,   individual donations, corporate and local business support, philanthropic support along with support via sporting clubs & organisations such as Rotary, Lions and Probus. 

We are predominantly run by volunteers who have an interest in helping all kids play sport regardless of their situation. If you are interested in volunteering please complete the form below. Some volunteers allocate a small number of hours each month and others become more involved depending on their area of interest and availability.

Click here to learn more on how you can help be a volunteer.