Regional Sport Victoria: Stride into Sport program starting to see results

The Latrobe Valley this year played host to a 2023 Victorian Open table tennis competition in a huge win for flagging regional sports participation rates.

In a first for regional Victoria, more than 300 players travelled from across the state in April to descend on a small farming town in the heart of Gippsland.

They were all hoping for glory in the highly competitive 2023 Victorian Open table tennis tournament.

This year was the first time the event has been held outside of Melbourne, and the move to Traralgon’s Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium was an effort to boost regional interest in the sport.

“The facility was just fantastic,” said Table Tennis Victoria chief executive Gen Dohrmann.

“We had players from under-11 through to over-85 in veterans playing.

“We were looking at ways that we could take some of our events outside of Melbourne … and Latrobe seemed really keen to work with us and attract some diverse events to the region.

“There was a little bit of animosity about moving it, and questions about whether people from western regions would come across. But we had people come all the way from Hamilton.”

Picture: Mark Wilson

The association has now signed an eight-year event agreement to have two major events based in Gippsland annually.

Relocating the table tennis events is part of a statewide push by sporting associations to help country communities tap back into recreation and active pursuits.

Ms Dohrmann said table tennis clubs – particularly in the regions – had seen a drop off in players during the pandemic, and they were working hard to reverse the trend.

“Because metro Melbourne was locked down for so long, people were bursting at the seams to get back to playing,” she said. “But our demographic in regional Victoria is a little older in our sport and there was more hesitancy to get back.”

The group is one of many taking part in Regional Sport Victoria’s “Stride into Sport” campaign, which is designed to drive awareness about registration, come-and-try days and volunteering opportunities in regional sporting groups.

Stride into Sport co-ordinator Meghan Mayman said the campaign, now in its second season, was starting to deliver results.

“We are trying to assist in a really practical way to get people back involved, and that’s not just on field,” she said.

The 2023 Victorian Open table tennis championships were held in Traralgon at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in April. Picture: Supplied

Research by RSV showed the largest drops in sporting activity during the pandemic had been in the regions, with overall participation down from 18 per cent in 2019 to just 10 per cent in 2020. That equated to a loss of 175,708 participants aged four to 19 in 2020 compared with 2019.

“There are declining rates of volunteers and numbers of officials too,” Ms Mayman said.

“This isn’t a targeted campaign around juniors.

“It is around everyone, and to help them get involved in community sport in some way shape or form.”

Ms Dohrmann said they saw Stride into Sport as an opportunity to attract younger generations to table tennis.

“Being a small sport, we don’t have the big marketing budget to do our own campaign,” she said. “Seeing the success of (Stride into Sport) has been great.”

Geelong Table Tennis Association has experienced a boost to numbers, thanks in part to the campaign.

President Damian Taranto said they had enjoyed record attendance at recent tournaments held in Geelong, with the city hoping to also host large events to build interest.

“Pre-Covid we had about 200 players,” he said. “Now we have 160.

“It is a slow climb back to where we were, but improving every year.

“By the end of the year hopefully we’ll be at about 180-200.”

In the Mallee, the Sunraysia Volleyball community has also gained new young players thanks to the campaign, with nine registrations after a winter come-and-try event inspired by Stride into Sport.

Sunraysia Volleyball secretary Jack Freeman said the interest gave them reason to restart their junior competition.

“We haven’t run a junior program since Covid,” he said. “It has been hard to recruit volunteers to become a coaches.

“The come-and-try day was the instigator to try to really bolster our junior program. That is the future of our sport.”

ACTIVE SCHOOLS

The state government has also made a financial commitment to help kids return to active pursuits post pandemic.

It has invested $45.4 million in its Active Schools program, which supports schools to embrace physical activities, delivering stronger engagement inside the classroom and supporting student health and wellbeing.

The government’s recent Get Your Move On campaign is part of the program, and highlights that 15 minutes of activity, four times a day could have a lasting and postive impact on student wellbeing and learning engagement.

Originally published as Regional Sport Victoria: Stride into Sport program starting to see results