rganised by Eliza Keaney (Tennis Australia) & Jamie Stefanato (Tennis Victoria), the Olympic Precinct Games is a culmination of organisations around the Melbourne Park precinct participating in a fun and friendly round robin competition in a select number of mixed sports. These events were played leading up to and during the Olympics.
Two years ago, a mixed-netball competition was played in conjunction with the opening of Margaret Court Arena, which involved organisations situated within the precinct. Eliza and Jamie wanted to capture this same concept but introduce other sports and run it whilst everyone had the “Olympic fever”. This was not only a great opportunity to promote health and well-being but also for the competing organisations to network with one another.
10 Organisations competed in the Games:
- Richmond Football Club
- Melbourne Football Club
- Collingwood Football Club
- Melbourne Storm
- Cricket Australia
- Cricket Victoria
- Melbourne Olympic Park
- Delaware
- MCC
- Melbourne Rebels
- Tennis Victoria
- Tennis Australia
Cricket Australia and Melbourne Football Club jump start the basketball competition
There were 38 teams with around 275 participants throughout the Games. There were also a number of people who assisted with officiating, scoring and time keeping. For those that were not participating were still actively involved by coming along to the games and supporting their teammates.
A closing ceremony with approximately 250 attendees had the opportunity to hear from and network with six diverse guest speakers. The guest speakers were Dylan Alcott OAM (dual Paralympian), Anthony Everard (Head of BBL), Alena Stevens & Phiilip England (MCC healthy Habits Program), Frank Ponissi (Football Director at Melbourne Storm) and Debbie Lee (Women's Operations Manager at Melbourne Football Club).
The Closing Ceremony doubled as a networking event between the 10 organisations.
Chosen Sports:
- Soccer
- Winner – Melbourne Football Club
- Runner Up – Tennis
- Touch Rugby
- Winner – Cricket
- Runner Up – Melbourne Rebels
- Basketball
- Winner – Richmond Football Club
- Runner Up – Tennis
- Netball
- Winner – Richmond Football Club
- Runner Up – Collingwood Football Club
Overall Winner:
1st place – Richmond Football Club
2nd place – Tennis
3rd place – Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Olympic Park and Melbourne Rebels take to the field to see who comes out on top in their touch rugby match
Credit: Jamie Stefanato, Tennis Victoria.
You may also be interested in...
Ausplay – participation data for the sport sector
The Australian Sport Commission (ASC) recently released the results of the Ausplay survey – a large scale national population tracking survey funded and led by the ASC. This is great news for the sport sector, as there has been a lack of up-to-date national participation data since the release of the ABS Sport and Recreation: A Statistical Overview, Australia in 2012 and the ASC’s Participation in Exercise, Recreation and Sport (ERASS) in 2010.
BENEFITS OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN GRASSROOTS SPORT CAMPAIGN
In 2014 Vicsport initiated the Are You On Board? (AYOB) Campaign to support conversation and action around gender diversity on Victorian SSA boards
Building on Success to Create Greater Participation by Women in Sport
Chairman of Vicsport, Margot Foster AM, herself an Olympic bronze medallist in rowing, said the growth of opportunities for women to play traditionally male sports has provided a major boost in publicity and awareness of opportunities emerging in an increasing number of sports for women.
