General Sports

The goal of the Gilchrist Foundation Sports Institution is to assist disadvantaged and underprivileged people to have the opportunity to live a more healthy, active and fulfilled life of their choosing by reducing barriers to participation in sport.

  1. The Foundation relies on evidence that the benefits of sport include:
    • the health benefits to the individual of physical activity
    • facilitating the building of social wellbeing and friendship
    • strengthening balance, coordination and mobility skills
    • teaching the individual life skills such as working as part of team, collaborating and planning
    • facilitating increased self-esteem through a sense of achievement
    • promoting active inclusion by disadvantaged in society
  2. The Sports Institution will collaborate with local councils, state sporting organisations, universities, schools and government partners to meet its purpose.
    • Assistance is open to a person who:
      • Is under 25 years of age,
      • Is an Australian citizen or a permanent resident in Australia,
      • Meets one or more of the additional eligibility criteria set out below.
        • Geographical isolation (lives outside of an Australian city and is unable to participate or access their chosen sport or a competition at the level of their achievement)
        • Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
        • Migrant or refugee  
        • Suffers from poverty or financial hardship (criteria based on data provided by Australian Council of Social Service)
        • Is disadvantaged by their circumstances such as family trauma
        • Has a disability; and
      • Shows merit in their chosen sport and can demonstrate how the Assistance will relieve their needs.
  3. Assistance is available to provide Recipients with the opportunity to live a more healthy, active and fulfilled life of their choosing by reducing barriers to their participation in sport. Funding might be provided for example:
    • To fund lessons with a coach for a period;
    • To fund attendance at an intensive camp in a sport in which the applicant shows promise to develop their skills;
    • To fund an applicant’s living away from home costs to play a sport in which they show promise for a period of time to develop their skills;
    • To fund participation by a coach in further training which that coach will take back to the community;
    • To fund a specialist teacher or coordinator to teach sport at an outback school which has no sport teacher.
  4. Applicants will be required to provide any evidence reasonably requested to confirm their eligibility in accordance with the criteria set out in these Terms

Applicants need to understand our policy for awarding grants for sport and apply using our online Application Form. To review our policy and to complete the application, please click HERE.

Although our sporting background has been developed mainly around cricket, our family has joined in many other sports as well.

This outreach has now enabled us to become involved in rugby union, football (soccer), rugby league, Australian Rules football, tennis, squash, softball, golf, netball, hockey, athletics (track and field), swimming, mountain bike riding and many others.

We will be developing programs at both individual and team levels aimed at providing special opportunities for youngsters who meet our “underprivileged” criteria in a range of sports for our Aussie disadvantaged and disabled sporting stars!