Netball Victoria is thrilled to announce their partnership with Proud 2 Play – a not for profit organisation with a vision where all LGBTI+ people can lead healthy and active lifestyles through participation in sport.
Proud 2 Play work at all levels of sport from grassroots to state and national sporting organisations to provide education, advise on inclusive policy, research, improve LGBTI+ visibility and run inclusive events.
Through the partnership, Netball Victoria aspires to building state wide awareness through development of a Pride Round at VNL and clubs/association level, focus on education, building capacity, understanding and inclusiveness within the organisation and out at club and association level and collaborate with other Victorian sports organisations on projects and development of best practice.
The partnership is another step Netball Victoria has taken to ensure netball is a sport for all, since the introduction of the Gender Regulation Policy on January 1, 2019.
Netball Victoria’s Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, Mitch Gourley said the partnership is a fantastic opportunity to educate such a large audience.
“Netball reaches over 300,000 in Victoria whether as a player, coach or in administration roles, and we want to educate our large netball community in an effort to ensure every single person out there on a Saturday morning, Tuesday night – whenever they may play – is feeling completely safe and embraced,” said Gourley.
“The partnership with Proud 2 Play will allow inclusiveness and awareness from Netball Victoria as the governing body of netball in Victoria right down to grassroots because no one should feel ashamed while playing sport.”
“This is a really exciting time for Proud 2 Play and LGBTI+ inclusion in sport in Victoria generally,” Proud 2 Play’s Partnerships Manager, Luke Major, said.
“We now have great relationships with a very broad spectrum of sports meaning we hope that LGBTI+ people really feel they have a choice when it comes to sports participation rather than only feeling comfortable in a select number of sports.”
Netball Victoria’s Gender Regulation Policy can be downloaded here.
