Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to recognise the incredible wealth of young sporting talent in my electorate of Newcastle. Newcastle has a proud sporting history and a culture that embraces a healthy outdoors life. But competing at an elite level can hit family budgets hard. That's why the former Labor government established the Local Sporting Champions program to give sporting stars of the future help to cover costs of getting to and taking part in major sporting events. Winners can put the $500 grant money towards the cost of travel, accommodation, uniforms or equipment when competing, coaching or officiating in national state or international competitions.

I was recently pleased to meet a number of these young winners in the latest round of the Local Sporting Champions grants. But I would like to recognise all of the winners here today. They were: Ryan Walker for the 2017 Georgina Hope Foundation Australian Age Swimming Champions; Daniel Villani for the Cadet European Judo Cup; Thomas Dever for the New South Wales PSSA swimming state championships; Yasmin Popovic for the NSW CCC football championships; Oscar Cathcart for the NSW PSSA primary football boys championships; Emily March for the Pacific School Games in swimming; Lachlan Graham for the NSW PSSA primary football boys championships; Annabelle Cleary for the World Youth Championships in sport climbing; Amali Fitzhenry for the New South Wales PSSA netball state championships; Kate Kingham for the under-16 girls national basketball championships; Kelsey Van Eldik for the Pacific School Games in swimming; Benjamin Cashen for the Pacific School Games in swimming, also; Jonathan Naude for the New South Wales state IRB Championships for surf lifesaving; Claudia Boyle for the Helloworld 2017 under-14 girls club basketball championships; Ella Wherrett for the Australian club championships in basketball; Imogen Davies for the Australian under-14 club championships in basketball; Keely Mclean for the Australian under-16 national championships in basketball; Lleyton Richards for the 2017 New South Wales Combined High Schools Sports Association boys tennis championships; Thomas Enright for the New South Wales IRB Championships for surf lifesaving; and Tia Jackson for the under-14s national championships in basketball.

The new round of Local Sporting Champions grants is now open. I encourage all eligible young sporting stars, aged between 12 and 18, to consider putting an application in over the Christmas break.