Youngsters' sports teams in Central can get funding to help with travel costs to compete in regular competitions, and it’s time to get requests in.

The Sport New Zealand Rural Travel fund is administered by 35 territorial authorities across New Zealand, and Central Otago District Council (CODC) is one of these. 

Funding is available for travel to regular, local competition games and not for national or one-off inter school competitions. Teams need to have members aged between five and 18 years old. 

Applications are decided annually, and need to be in by September. Team managers and clubs can view the application form online here.

According to Sport NZ there are more than 900,000 children and young people aged 5-18 in New Zealand, and only seven per cent are meeting the New Zealand guidelines for physical activity through physical education, sport, exercise and active recreation.

It is recommended that children and young people do at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day.

Information on local clubs offering tamariki and rangitahi sports can be found on the Community | Groups| Clubs button on the Central App.