Sunday, 29 October 2000 &endash; it’s your turn
Active Australia Day is part of the national Active Australia initiative. The Day provides a great opportunity for Councils to demonstrate their support for active communities by providing an avenue for sport and physical activity providers to link with potential members.
The Kardu Numida Community in Wadeye 400 kilometres south west of Darwin, is well aware of the benefits of Active Australia Day having been involved in 1999.
Last year’s activities incorporated surf lifesaving sessions conducted by Northern Territory Surf Life Saving representatives and other water related events like sandcastle building and beach design.
Volleyball, soccer, plus traditional activities of crab tying and spear throwing were also included in the program. Participants also enjoyed traditional food including wallaby and turtle.
Tony Tree, one of the organisers of the Day for the Kardu Numida Community, is enthusiastic about the idea of everyone being active together on one day
“Our community is a very active one but the Day really reinforced the positive benefits of physical activity,” Tony Tree said.
“It was fantastic to see so many people involved in the activities at the beach.”
Plans for Active Australia Day 2000 are well underway.
“We are considering some type of mini Olympics to get even more people involved,” Tony said.
This year’s Active Australia Day coincides with the end of the Paralympics and is part of the national Active Australia strategy to convert the interest in sport and physical activity generated by the Olympics and Paralympics into long term participation.
“The year 2000 presents the sport and recreation sectors with a wonderful marketing opportunity to capture public interest and new members,” said Australian Sports Commission’s General Manager, Sport Development, Henny Oldenhove.
“The biggest challenge will be one of creating a legacy from the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the Australian community.
“Active Australia Day is helping to meet this challenge by encouraging people to become more active and by giving Councils and sport and physical activity providers a chance to benefit from a national ‘come and try day’ to increase activity levels in their communities.
“What we are really saying is, ‘Look, you’ve been sitting down watching all of this for the past six weeks, now it’s your turn. How about joining the community and getting active on the Day?'”
One of the exciting additions to Active Australia Day this year is the Active Australia Community Walk. Every Council in Australia has been invited to take part in Active Australia Day by holding a walk with their community leaders on the morning of the day.
The walk will provide up to 700 role models as a focus to start publicity on the Day.
For more information contact Jo O’Brien on (02) 6262 8755, email active.ausday@leisureaus.com.au or why not visit the Active Australia Day website at www.activeaustraliaday.com
