The Province is continuing its strong support for the work of British Columbia's Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs) by providing them with more than $9 million in funding for 2011/12, Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Ida Chong announced today.

This latest round of funding will allow the sport organizations to serve the needs of grassroots sport in every B.C. community, as well as developing British Columbia's best athletes and coaches, enabling PSOs to build their membership and upgrade the high-quality programming they provide across the province. PSOs include sports as diverse as swimming and netball, soccer and wheelchair basketball, gymnastics and football.

Since 2005, the Province has given unprecedented support for sport through funding to PSOs and other organizations (such as the BC Games Society) and through gaming grants that flow to community-based sport organizations. All of this funding supports the Province's vision of sport as a critical tool for building active and healthy British Columbians, strong families, and vibrant and engaged communities.

While British Columbians lead Canada in physical activity, work remains to be done in increasing the proportion of citizens - children, youth, adults and seniors - who participate in organized sport and gain the physical, mental and social benefits associated with this activity. On-going financial support from the Province is critical to PSOs continually expanding their membership to achieve these greater goals.

Quick Facts:

• British Columbia has more than 60 Provincial Sport Organizations, each responsible for one sport across B.C.
• Provincial Sport Organizations represent more than 4,000 clubs and 650,000 participants in B.C. They are the official governing body for their sport and are responsible for all aspects of athlete, coach and official development across the province.
• Provincial Sport Organizations help "make sport happen" in B.C. They help train and certify coaches and officials so children and youth have safer, positive experiences in sport; they sanction and provide standards for sports; and they work with community clubs and teams across the province to promote and provide opportunities for all British Columbians to participate and achieve to their abilities and aspirations.
• In 2010-11, funding to provincial sport organizations supported sport participation and membership programs accessed by more than one million British Columbians, supported more than 17,500 coaching certification or training opportunities and more than 13,600 officiating certification or training opportunities to British Columbians across the province.
• Sport BC is the province's umbrella sport organization, which brings together all PSOs to provide a unified voice for amateur sport in B.C.

Learn More:

Sport BC: http://www.sportbc.com

BC Government Sport Branch: http://www.cscd.gov.bc.ca/sport/

Contact:

Gillian Rhodes
Communications Manager
Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development
250 888-1462