Cootamundra and Districts Little Athletics is jumping into the new season with a $4,500 grant from Coles to support aspiring athletes and community volunteers.
Cootamundra and Districts is one of 72 grassroots Little Athletics clubs and centres across Australia announced as a successful recipient of the 2025 Coles Little Athletics Community Fund. They will share in $250,000 to purchase much needed sports, safety and volunteer equipment. Cootamundra and Districts Little Athletics will use their grant to buy new hurdles which Club President, Lizzy Cassidy said will help volunteers to deliver a fun, safe and quality program to young athletes.
“Being able to purchase a new set of hurdles will have a huge impact on our Little Athletics Club this season and beyond. The grant is going to go a long way in helping us provide the best opportunities for young athletes in our community,” she said.
“For the past three years, our original hurdles have been unsafe to use, which means our kids have missed out on learning new skills and discovering their potential. With new hurdles, we can give every child the chance to participate confidently and safely and ensure our volunteers can set up and pack down without risk.”
Cootamundra and Districts Little Athletics’ grant comes as Little Athletics Australia revealed a 16% jump in participation over the past 12 months, with the biggest increase recorded in the Little Athletics Tiny Tots program for 3 to 5-year-olds, which rose by 33%.
In the past five seasons, Little Athletics has grown by more than 40% to over 96,000 Aussie kids and a further 74,000 community volunteers, coaches and officials, making it one of the most participated junior sports programs in Australia. A significant contributor to this surge in participation was Australia’s success at the Paris Olympics which represented the third-highest post-Olympics growth in the past 40 years (behind London 2012 and Sydney 2000). And now, with a home Olympic Games on the horizon, Coles is backing Little Athletics for a further three years by renewing its partnership with the iconic Australian sporting program.
Little Athletics Australia CEO Myles Foreman said Little Athletics is well positioned to maintain its growth with recent successes on and off the track and field.
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