Grants’ benefit to be felt at the junior level

GOOD FORM: Blake Marshall hits out during an unbeaten century for High School Old Boys Pups in junior colts cricket action last year. Junior cricket in Poverty Bay has received a funding boost from the New Zealand Community Trust. Picture supplied

CRICKET

JUNIOR cricket in Poverty Bay is the big winner from the latest round of grants from the New Zealand Community Trust.

The Poverty Bay Cricket Association has been allocated $72,600 for salaries, enabling the organisation to focus on developing the sport at the junior level.

PBCA operations manager Nic Hendrie said the association was extremely grateful for the funding for the coming season.

“This will allow us to develop at grassroots level and help create an active and healthy sporting community.”

The grant money is designed to assist the association with programmes for school-aged children, to encourage more girls to take part in the sport and to improve coaching.

Younger secondary school students will be among those to benefit from better coaching.

“Given the success we achieved last season, we expect big things using the staff we would like to employ,” the association said in its application.

The Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union received just over $12,150 from the trust to help with accommodation.

Gisborne Speedway Club was given $8000 to help pay for a safety vehicle, and Gisborne Intermediate School got a grant of just over $5100 for sports uniforms.

The gaming venues that contributed to the NZCT grants round were Bar 59, Bollywood Stars, Mo’s Sports Bar and Grill, ShipWreck, and Sugar.

This year’s grant to PBCA was an increase on the trust’s allocation in previous years. The association was given $47,500 last year and $51,000 the previous year.

The Poverty Bay junior cricket muster day is on October 20 and the association has said registrations for this season’s junior colts have been “flying” in.