Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Hindmarsh electorate is proud about the number of its exciting young sports stars. Last week, I had the honour of meeting some of our young sports men and women and presented them with the Local Sporting Champions grants. The Local Sporting Champions program is a great initiative which provides funding assistance to young sports people aged between 12 and 18 participating in state, national or international sporting competitions. Of 46 applicants, 15 young sports men and women were successful, so congratulations to them all. They received $500 for travel, accommodation, equipment and uniforms. Well done to the other applicants, too. I encourage them to continue their dedication and commitment to their sport.

Successful applicants represented an extremely broad range of sports, including hockey, sailing, kayaking, taekwondo, swimming, badminton, yachting, gymnastics, canoeing and table tennis, to name a few. What is most impressive is the number of recipients who are competing on the international stage, with events being held in countries such as Hungary, Argentina, Azerbaijan, New Zealand, England, Slovakia and South Africa.

The funding goes a long way to helping families support their son or daughter to compete in their chosen sport, especially for those who represent Australia at international events, such as the Ellis family of Henley Beach. Jayden Ellis and his brother Charles were both recipients, so their family is extremely active in their children's sporting lives. Jayden recently attended the ICF Junior and Under 23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Hungary, where he joined the next generation of future Olympic aspirants, and competed against the world's best junior kayakers. Jayden represented Australia in the team event, the K-4 1000 junior sprint, and won bronze—well done, Jayden!—an amazing achievement, given Australia has not won a team medal since 1985. This is the first time Australia has ever won a medal in the K-4 team junior race.

Jayden's younger brother, Charles, was unable to attend the presentation because he was flying back from Slovakia, where he represented Australia and competed in the canoeing Olympic Hopes Regatta. Charles made the finals in all of his races and hopes to follow in his brother's footsteps. The electorate could not be prouder of the Ellises, as well as all the others that applied and all those junior sportsmen and sportswomen in Hindmarsh. I look forward to watching all their careers going forward.

I was also impressed to speak to Alicia Martino, Emily Patching and Matthew Meaney about their sporting pursuits.

Another great story is Kyle Chalmers. Kyle represented Australia swimming at the 2014 Youth Olympics in August in China. He won three bronze medals. Earlier this year Kyle broke an underage swimming record held once by our Ian Thorpe. There is a great future for Kyle. He is an Immanuel College student—my old school—and he also has some good football pedigree in his family.

I would like to congratulate everyone including Thomas Clarken, Madeleine Ross, Caleb Jackson, Reece Bacchus, Tristan Edison, Keith Edison, Jace Bayliss and Alexander Warrender. Well done to you all. (Time expired)