Baseball Victoria is pleased to share the recent success of Doncaster Baseball Club in securing a grant for a women’s gala day.
Last month, Doncaster was announced as one of 23 recipients awarded funding through the second round of the Victorian Government’s Change Our Game Community Activation Grants.
Last month, Doncaster was announced as one of 23 recipients awarded funding through the second round of the Victorian Government’s Change Our Game Community Activation Grants.
These generous grants are designed to support local sports and recreation organisations in their efforts to deliver events and forums that honour the role of women and girls in this field.
Doncaster Baseball Club has been a champion of women’s participation for many years, and this dedication to levelling the playing field has culminated in Doncaster’s successful grant application. This funding will allow Doncaster and many members of the baseball community to showcase the contributions of female players and the promising future of their involvement in the sport.
Doncaster’s Change Our Game Project will be called Baseball and Beyond to acknowledge the all-around benefits that this sport provides to all participants. This women’s gala day will be held on Saturday 23rd March 2019. The event will begin with an inspiring breakfast, highlighted by an appearance from a Change our Game ambassador. This will be followed by open training at Deep Creek Reserve, as well as a display game of the state’s best women baseball players.
Carolyn Minister from Doncaster says the entire club is thrilled with this opportunity. “We’re incredibly fortunate to have been supported in this initiative by the Change Our Game funding from the Victorian State Government,” Carolyn said. “It makes us optimistic about the future of women’s baseball.”
Current sport participation rates for girls inspired the club to apply for this funding and plan such an event. VicHealth statistics show that girls aged 5-14 years have a 67% participation rate, which drops to 29% for ages 15-19. By age 30, a meagre 8% of females are playing organised sport.
“We all know that sport is good for us and most of us know that the barriers for female participation in sport are greater than that for their male counterparts,” Carolyn added. “In some small way we hope to influence the girls currently in the baseball world to continue playing sport and to become more involved at different levels of the game, whether that is by playing, coaching, umpiring or on executive committees.”
More details about the Baseball and Beyond Gala Day will be released soon.
Baseball Victoria is proud to have supported and assisted Doncaster throughout the application process. The entire BV team is looking forward to seeing this event come together to honour our fantastic female participants.
The Baseball and Beyond project is supported by Change Our Game, an initiative of the Victorian Government.