Hockey Australia wishes to announce a significant additional funding increase of $500,000 as part of the Australian Sports Commission’s Australian Sport: The Pathway to Success initiative.
The additional funding will not only allow Hockey Australia to build on existing development and recruitment programs, but to also create innovative ways of attracting people to our sport.
Hockey Australia Chief Executive Mark Anderson said the sport was now aiming towards aggressive growth in the number of players, coaches and officials as a direct result of the funding increase.
“We are pleased to announce that our proposal for increased funding of hockey’s development and participation programs has been supported by the Australian Sports Commission,” said Hockey Australia’s Chief Executive, Mark Anderson.
While the continued success of hockey’s national teams is crucial, Anderson said it was also important to also invest at the grassroots level to ensure long term success for the sport.
“A strong and growing participation base is pivotal to our continuing success at both a community and elite level. Recent results by our national teams, the Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos, reinforce that we are a world leader in our sport at an elite level. We have always advocated that increased support of these national teams was paramount and we are delighted that our teams recently attracted additional financial support from the Australian Sports Commission. However, it was critical that we are also able to invest at a grass roots level to ensure the future success of our sport at all levels for years to come. Today’s announcement ensures that we can increase our commitment of developing our community and participation programs. Hockey’s key goal will be to introduce and connect more hockey players to clubs and ensure that we are providing all players with positive and enjoyable experiences at the community level,” said Anderson.
To ensure this objective Anderson said Hockey Australia must continue to work closely with the relevant stakeholders.
“We look forward to working with the Australian Sports Commission and all relevant stakeholders to deliver genuine benefits back to the hockey community. Hockey Australia and its member States & Territories are committed to investing and growing our sport at a community level in order to increase participation rates for years to come,” said Anderson.
Source: Hockey Australia Media Release
