Gymnastics Australia seeking corporate support

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Updated: February 27, 2016

Gymnastics Australia is seeking to partner with national businesses to help deliver programs and events for the benefit of all Australians.

Gymnastics Australia would like to build relationships with select sponsors who share our vision for the future of Gymnastics in Australia, who support the development of sport at the grass roots level, through to national events and Australian teams competing internationally, who would like to see a healthier Australia, and who would like their marketing and goodwill efforts to reach a large target audience.

When, in 2000, Jai Wallace bounced his way into the history books as a trampoline gymnast, becoming the first Australian to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics, Gymnastics Australia had just 73,000 members.

Now 16 years later, the sport has experienced 15 years of continuous growth. Our 180,000 strong membership base includes a significant 86% of children under the age of 12 partaking in some form of gymnastics and places Gymnastics in the top 10 of all sports in Australia for participation in this age bracket.

With 76% of our total membership being girls, gymnastics is clearly one of the leading and most popular sports for Australian girls and families.

The world stops to watch the grace and flexibility of gymnasts every two years at Olympic and Commonwealth Games, but even when the cameras are turned off and the amazing feats of the athletes are seemingly forgotten, over 180,000 Australians annually are actively engaged in gymnastics. On top of this a further 400,000 people are participating in gymnastics and other similar activities at our 538 affiliated clubs across Australia annually giving the sport exposure to over 580,000 participants nationally each year.

“At Gymnastics Australia we are excited to deliver programs that not only produce athletes at the highest level along with the best in the world, but also actively target all Australians to live healthy active lives from an early age” says Mark Rendell – CEO, “in addition to that Gymnastics Australia has over 6,000 registered and professionally trained coaches across the nation to ensure that gymnastics is accessible to all”.

Gymnastics is often referred to as the nursery of all sports, with the principles learned at an early age being a crucial step in the development of fundamental movement skills for all Australians.

The core of Gymnastics is fundamental movement, a proposition that is well researched. Recent studies have called for Gymnastics to become a compulsory part of every school curriculum, not just because of the physiological benefits to children whatever sport they may choose to play, but because of the associated social and academic benefits as well.

Gymnastics Australia is encouraging all Australians to adopt and maintain an active lifestyle, not just during the developmental years, but through to adulthood to improve wellbeing and reduce the many health risks inherent in today’s society.

As the first step to getting healthy, Gymnastics Australia has the Launchpad Program, the primary national program dedicated to teaching children the fundamental movement skills they need to lead an active and healthy life full of fun, sport and recreation, which is delivered in a club environment, as well as through the Australian Sports Commission’s Sporting Schools program.

Importantly, research tells us that children who have these fundamental skills are far more likely to participate in sport and recreation throughout life providing:

· A foundation for lifelong participation in sport and recreation;
· A foundation for future participation in gymnastics; and,
· Optimised activities for brain and body development.

The success of our organisation and our programs is dependent upon the financial and product support of corporations and private sponsors. Hence, Gymnastics Australia is using this unique value proposition to access over 180,000 young Australian families to gain support from Australian businesses to help us deliver these programs and events for the benefit of all Australians.

We are currently in the planning stages of our annual events for the coming year, including the prestigious 2016 Australian Gymnastics Championships, the National Club Championships, and the Gym4Life Challenge. For many of our athletes, these events are the pinnacle of competitive gymnastics in Australia.

With gymnastics being a particularly popular sport for girls, Mark Rendell, says it’s an exciting time for the sport.

“Gymnastics is a great sport for boys and girls of all ages to participate in, but with the recent rise in the profile of women’s sport at a mainstream commercial level, there is no more exciting time than now then to get behind the continual rise of Gymnastics in Australia.”

Learn more about this and all our programs and events at www.gymnastics.org.au.

To support Gymnastics Australia, contact Michelle Morris at mmorris@gymnastics.org.au or 03 8698 9726.

Source: Gymnastics Australia