Organised junior sport is back to make parents’ weekend sleep-ins a distant memory

THE weekend sleep-ins are over for the majority of parents. And the early mornings cheering on sons and daughters at organised junior sport are back, writes DENISE CAHLL

Wests Gillen‘s Katie Hannah, Federal’s Simone Tribe and Rovers' Shenee Harman. Picture: Emma Murray

THE weekend sleep-ins are over for the majority of parents this weekend.

That’s right, the early mornings cheering on sons and daughters on sporting fields, courts and arenas are back.

Junior sport was one of the first activities cut when the coronavirus pandemic hit leaving cricket pitches, football and hockey fields, netball courts and dance studios empty.

Active kids were left with no organised outlet.

Organised sport is one of many things we’ll never take for granted again … children and adults alike.

We’ll appreciate the early mornings, volunteers, umpires, coaches and teachers who provide such an important opportunity for kids, whether they’re aspiring athletes or enjoy the socialising as much as the activity.

We’ll also not take the Territory’s sporting facilities for granted, from the local pool to the $18 million Darwin Netball Stadium, $16.7 million Marrara Tennis Centre and $25.3 million Territory Rugby League Stadium.

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In the NT, 54 per cent of children aged 5-14 years participate in at least one sport outside of school hours that have been organised by a school, club or association (source: ABS Survey of Children’s Participation in Culture and Leisure Activities, Australia, 2012).

This is not bad considering the Australian average for kids the same age is 60 per cent.

The ABS stats also indicate that the three most popular organised sports for boys are outdoor soccer, swimming or diving and Aussie Rules with participation rates of 22 per cent, 16 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

For girls, swimming or diving and netball dominated at 19 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.

The NT has 3493 registered netballers spread across associations in Darwin (1295), Alice Springs (983), Palmerston (710), Katherine (307), Gove (132) and Netball Northern Territory (66).

Chief Minister Michael Gunner used netball to launch the restart of community sport revealing it had been 20 years since he’d donned a GA bib in a mixed netball competition.

Mr Gunner also revealed that of the 3000 organisations to submit a COVID-19 plan, 700 of those were sporting organisations.

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Aussie Rules also continues to be a top choice for Territorians, with more than 60,000 people, or almost a quarter of the Territory’s population, involved in the game in 2017.

This figure is the most per-capita of any state or territory.

A breakdown of the data shows 28,484 participants are from non-metropolitan areas including Alice Springs and remote regions like East and West Arnhem, Barkly and Katherine.

NT census figures show cricket has 24,138 participants and 8954 registered players and NT Participation statistics note that 33 per cent of local cricketers are indigenous.

Soccer players aged 4-11 are also part of the nation-wide initiative ALDI MiniRoos that uses short, game-based sessions to introduce the sport of football to newcomers in an inclusive way.

About 220,000 children nationally take part in ALDI MiniRoos that is delivered by more than 1600 local football clubs.

Good luck to all the parents and kids getting back on the pitch this weekend.