By Sarah Tone, Communications Coordinator

By: Matthew Page

 

Sport Manitoba offers a wide range of training and developmental grants that emphasize training and skill development to facilitate the growth of athletes, coaches, officials, and volunteers across the province. 

The Starting a New Club grant was the perfect fit for the Predators Athletics Club in Beausejour, Manitoba. The Predators are a brand new track and field club that had partnered with the local school and recreation department, but needed more funding to get the sport and age-specific equipment they needed to support their programming. As a club that trains athletes from ages 6 through 18+, they were looking to keep registration costs low for their athletes. 

The Predators focus on a holistic development approach that takes into account personal and athletic development, to allow athletes to be their best on and off the field of play. Their aim is to “coach the human in the athlete.” Their younger athletes focus on skill development and physical literacy. As they get older, they train in sport-specific skills for track and field. Once the athletes reach age 13 they start training for competition in track and field.

A Legacy for the Athletics Community

The Predators Club applied for the Starting a New Club grant as “a legacy investment.” Their application was successful, and thanks to the financial support, they were able to keep costs low for their athletes. The club has attracted nearly 70 athletes in a town of just over 3,000.

The equipment they purchased with the grant will be used for years to come and is already paying dividends. During practices this year, they were able to use training time more efficiently because they had enough equipment for all the athletes to use. The equipment was set up in stations, to keep the athlete-to-coach ratio low which is key for skill development. An added bonus to having more equipment was that the athletes stayed active and participated throughout the practice with less downtime.

The Predators are grateful to be able to put the grant money to good use. 

“We would not have been able to operate as we did without the grant,” says co-leader of the club Donna Harris. “The cost for participants would have been much higher if we had to include an equipment fee in their registration and that increased cost would have likely decreased participation.”

One of the club’s main goals is to engage as many athletes as they can in their community while keeping costs low. By using the grant, they were able to avoid charging athletes an equipment fee, and they were also able to purchase a web domain and create promotional materials that will help them attract more athletes in the future. Check it out: https://www.predatorathletics.ca/ 

Grants Available Year-Round

Find more on this and all our grants, funding opportunities for sport, and coach and athlete scholarships, here: https://www.sportmanitoba.ca/resources/funding/