24th February, 2021 — Good Sports awards
Normanton Karumba Athletics are champion Rookies
Normanton Karumba Athletics has been crowned the 2020 Good Sports Rookie Club of the Year, along with $1000 in prize money. The club from far north Queensland is new to the Good Sports program. This award is a testament to their dedication to the health and wellbeing of its members. They’ve achieved a lot in a short time!
A club for passionate volunteers
One thing Normanton Karumba does well is caring about their members and volunteers. The club knows that the people are the most important thing. Athletics is just what brings everyone together.
“Our club is for the community. We joined up to Good Sports promote a healthy, safe and family friendly environment for our members. We saw it as a great way for our volunteer members to further educate themselves and then able to pass these learnings onto our club members and the wider community,” said Club President, Jacob Daniels.
“For quite a few years the only junior sport available in our remote community was swimming which didn’t appeal to everyone. We started the athletics club with support from local services and other stakeholders in the community to provide something for kids to do no matter what the age,” Jacob said.
Normanton Karumba Athletics loves its juniors
Normanton Karumba Athletics has reached the highest level of the Good Sports program, implementing policies around alcohol management, tobacco, healthy eating and safe transport. It’s also committed to providing a positive and supportive environment for their junior players through the Good Sports program.
“The biggest change that we have seen at our club is the involvement of the parents. We are seeing a big increase in parental involvement with many of them helping out at training sessions, becoming more supportive of their children and taking a lot more of an interest in the club,” Jacob added.
The club is run by a group of volunteers who arrange free transport to and from the remote club and regularly fundraise to keep costs at a minimum.
“We have a group of extremely passionate volunteers who work week in, week out to make sure everyone is included. When someone is struggling, we get together and see what we can do to help out,” Jacob said.
"A proud moment for the club was when our volunteers were able to fundraise to take a team of twelve of our members to Atherton which is about 600km away at no cost to the athletes. The club paid for the bus, accommodation, and registration fees.”
Nominations are now open for the 2021 Good Sports Awards! Entry is easy, find out more.