St Mary’s Old Girls Netball Club receive Lotto Sport Makers good practice recognition
St Mary’s Old Girls (SMOG) Netball Club has recently been recognised by Sport Wellington for demonstrating good practice
as they progress the alignment of their structure and culture to volunteering.
This recognition is part of the ‘Thank a Sport Maker’ campaign; a partnership with the Lotto Volunteer Foundation and
Sport New Zealand that will see the greater Wellington region sharing in over $1 million of quality clothing and sports
gear awarded to Sport Makers throughout New Zealand over the next three years.
Sport Wellington celebrates good practice at a local or regional level by rewarding organisations who have demonstrated
processes, policies and culture that support sustainability and growth, with a particular focus on volunteer (or “Sport
Makers”) management. Sports organisations can access volunteer management resources and templates at www.lottovolunteers.co.nz/resources.html
SMOG netball club is midway through a successful season on the court, with several national age group and international
netball players playing for both the club and other representative teams. The club also caters for the more social
player and has 10 teams playing this year, which makes it one of the largest netball clubs in the region.
Jamie Milne, Sport Development Advisor from Sport Wellington says “what makes these achievements possible is having a
strong volunteer base that manage the club, coach, referee games and support each other through thick and thin. The club
is able to achieve this through identifying volunteerism and workforce management as one of their key strategic
challenges. I encourage all clubs to consider doing the same as they build towards a sustainable and viable future. Well
done SMOG”.
Sport Wellington congratulates SMOG netball club on its work in the community and through the investment from the Lotto
Volunteer Foundation and Sport New Zealand, is providing the club with a $1,000 worth of ‘Sport Makers’ sporting goods.
People can show their appreciation for the Sport Makers who blow a whistle, coach, balance the books or help cook the
sausages for the fundraising BBQ by sending a thank you e-card available at lottovolunteers.co.nz. Every nomination is in the draw to win a $500 merchandise voucher.
MEDIA RELEASE ENDS
Information about the Lotto Volunteer Foundation, Sport NZ and Sport Wellington partnership:
• Lotto has been supporting New Zealand communities for 26 years, with over $3 billion in profits distributed to
New Zealand arts, cultural, sporting and community organisations.
• Each week Lotto players raise over $3.8 million for the community.
• Sport NZ leads, enables and invests in sport on behalf of the government and is the largest recipient of Lotto
grants, receiving $35 million this year which will be redistributed out to sports organisations throughout New Zealand.
• Sport Wellington works in partnership with Sport NZ at a regional level to strengthen and increase sport and
recreation participation, and to promote volunteerism.
• Sport volunteers (or Sport Makers) are the lifeblood of New Zealand sport.
• Over 750,000 Sport Makers give 50 million hours of their time annually to keep our world class sport system
humming.
• This partnership represents the first initiative to be announced as part of the Lotto Volunteer Foundation,
which will see volunteer programmes developed across a wide range of community organisations in the future.
• More information is available at lottovolunteers.co.nz.