Central Otago's growing population is continuing to strain the resources of Sport Central, Sport Otago leaders say.
But Central Otago sports co-ordinators were "working hard" to keep delivering programmes in the district and continued initiatives were planned, Sport Otago chief executive John Brimble told Central Otago district councillors this week.
In a presentation from Mr Brimble and other Sport Otago and Sport Central representatives to the council's community services committee meeting, Mr Brimble said Central Otago was the second-biggest geographic area within Sport New Zealand and suffered from the "tyranny of distance".
"Central is the fastest growing area in Otago and New Zealand - we need more resource for this area."
This was not acknowledged "as much as we'd like it to" at a national level, but Sport Otago continued to advocate for sufficient funding, Mr Brimble said.
It was also seeking organisations interested in partnering with Sport Central to provide additional resources.
Sport Otago was continuing research and planning for future programmes, in line with national initiatives, Mr Brimble said.
They included a focus on providing training to primary school teachers so they could deliver increased levels of physical education in schools; finding ways to prevent the drop-off of physical activity that occurred with secondary school pupils; providing support for parents to volunteer as "first coaches"; and increasing diversity in sport, including by promoting sporting opportunities for people with disabilities and special needs.
Youth opinion was also being sought, to find out what attracted young people to sport and also what barriers and issues prevented them from playing sport.
