South Gippsland BMX Club: Moving to a sustainable future – guided by GippSport

South Gippsland BMX Club, was established in 2019 and the main focus in its formative years was building back the BMX track in Leongatha that had not been in use for many years. Now with 30 members signed up, they are moving to trying to create a sustainable club with a strong committee guided by good governance and a strong community-led culture.

The club worked with GippSport in the lead up to their 2021 AGM to concentrate on recruiting committee members, setting good meeting practices and looking for opportunities for funding to support the club.

GippSport then assisted the club to receive funding through the South Gippsland Shire to create a strategic plan.

GippSport Community Solutions will now work with the club to prepare for the next 5 years and create a sustainable club through the strategic planning process.

The Story of South Gippsland BMX Club

It’s only been established for a couple of years but the South Gippsland BMX club is gaining momentum quickly. In the first year of the club the focus was on building back the track which was led by current President Nathan Evans.

Many hours of planning, working with Council and hard labour was put into the project.

“With great support from local companies BJ Earthworks, Allens Contracting, Evans Petroleum and Leongatha Garden Supplies the track was slowly brought back to a facility that we could start to enjoy again.“

Nathan Evans explains.

The word got out and memberships started to grow with many families coming from beyond Leongatha, including Mirboo North, Korumburra and even Phillip Island. As membership grew so did the need to spread the load and in his in own words,

“I quickly realised this was more than a one-man show so we needed to become more formalised and have a structure which didn’t just rely on me so after advice from South Gippsland Shire we reached out to GippSport.”

How GippSport supported the Club

GippSport provides subsidised support to all not-for profit sporting clubs across Gippsland and in this case it was an exciting opportunity to build in some solid governance principles and practices into the club operations at its infancy. Ensuring a committee is set-up and operates efficiently is highly critical to the long-term success of the any club.

Along the way other opportunities for assistance popped up like grant opportunities and general club development advice. A relationship between the club and GippSport was being forged.

GippSport Program Coordinator worked with the club to form its 2021 committee and worked with them on the following.

Why work with GippSport

Support is provided through the Together More Active Program which is funded by the Victorian State Government. Sporting clubs can access the expertise of experienced GippSport staff that are locally based and can work directly with your club.

South Gippsland BMX club appreciated the guidance and assistance through-out the process. This ensured they were on the right track to build a structure that will allow them to grow. Getting support through grant applications was a real bonus.

Best practices and already created resources were available for the club to implement saving hours of volunteer time.

What does the future hold for South Gippsland BMX Club

The club has a bright future bringing the camaraderie and excitement of BMX racing to South Gippsland. It provides a fun, safe, and action-packed sport that the whole family can get involved in!

As the club grows it will continue to work with GippSport to ensure the future looks as bright as it’s beginnings.