Still living the sporting dream

LAST Saturday, 28 March marked three years to the day until the 2018 Commonwealth Games kick off.
There were some wonderful news stories over the weekend to remind us what it was like in 1982 when Brisbane hosted the friendly Games.
I can tell you first-hand what it was like in Brisbane – as my role at the time was to promote the event for the two years leading up to the September action.
You have to remember this was long before Dean Lukin, Robert De Castella, Lisa Curry or the Mean Machine became household names.
The big sporting names in those days were Greg Chappell, Jeff Thompson, Hector Thompson and our own Grant Kenny was still at high school.
Noosa’s first taste of Games came during this time when 1958 marathon winner Dave Power and family took up residence in Noosaville in an aptly named Games Motel.
The former New South Welshman was, of course, regularly pounding the pavements and loved the National Park course.
His love of the sport is now etched in history and the success of Deek’s win was the impetus that sparked the revolution that followed with the annual Noosa Triathlon Festival.
I regularly spoke at Rotary, Lions, beer and beef events, businesses, social events, schools and clubs during this time to build up the anticipation of what I truly believed would change Queensland forever.
I lost count of the times I was told “to stop dreaming’ or “cut it out Benny, we didn’t win any gold last time”.
Plus the Moscow Olympic boycott was still a pretty sore point and left a lot wary of anything to do with amateur sport.
The latest Roy Morgan report detailing the nation’s most successful participatory sports only backs up the success of the ‘82 Games.
Let’s take swimming – almost one in every two children under 14 and 10 per cent of adults take to the water regularly. And with millions of kids in Learn to Swim programs, the sport is here to stay.
While swimming leads the way, it’s closely followed by soccer, cycling, athletics/track and field, basketball and gymnastics.
Sadly the footy codes Aussie rules and rugby league are well back, while soccer leads the way in team sports, getting the bounce over basketball, cricket and netball.
Although no doubt cricket will get a boost after its World Cup victory last Sunday, Aussies are becoming pretty active in new exercise-based pursuits such as hiking, aerobics, and surfing.
One of the strongest aspects from the data gathered was that kids are increasingly getting involved in team sports.
I can only encourage all Mums and Dads to ensure their child plays sport, I know most kids just want to enjoy the company of their mates and fun they have being involved.
Sure, some will go on to be stars but the majority will grow old remembering the grand final they won or lost.
Congratulations to all competitors who competed in last weekend’s state lifesaving titles, a terrific result for all especially the Coast, as it was a trial run for next year’s national titles.
Until next time.