Fair Game Australia

John van Bockxmeer , Australia

John van Bockxmeer founded Fair Game Australia to give young people from underprivileged backgrounds the opportunity to take part in sports, reaching almost 15,000 young people and donating over 24,000 pieces of sports gear across Australia. Whilst working as a doctor in a small rural hospital, John saw young Australians suffering from preventable lifestyle-related illness and wanted to establish a holistic model which would help break the cycle of inequality. With the help of 180 volunteer fair gamers, Fair Game Australia collects used sports equipments through placing brightly coloured bins in major metropolitan areas. The used gear is then sorted before being donated to villages and towns across Australia, with over 40 remote, rural and metropolitan communities benefiting to date. Fair Game Australia primarily works with underserviced Australian communities including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and chronic disease sufferers. Fair Game Australia engages participants by running their healthy communities interactive education programme 'Game On!', sports and fitness programs with the children. After each session, the volunteers leave donated sports gear behind to allow the young people in the community to continue playing sports together and to further develop their skills and fitness levels. Fair Game Australia visits some communities up to eight times each year and are often the only provider of sport, health and recreation programmes, many underserved children benefit from Fair Game's repeat interventions.