The funding will be handed out in incremental amounts to be used on travel, registration or equipment expenses.

The first recipient of funding is bodybuilder Tracey Taylor, who just returned from the world titles in New York.

Griffith deputy mayor and Sports Council member Dom Testoni said Taylor is the kind of athlete who is custom-made for the grant.

“It (the funding) was born from the Sports Awards. We sat down with, at that time, the mayor Dino Zappacosta and Peter Brooks and they were impressed with what we were able to do with so little funding, and they took that to council and we were able to secure the funding,” he said.

“We have set criteria that we will have to judge each person by and the executive of the Sports Council will sit down and judge each individual application.

“In the future now she’s aware of it, she knows that the Sports Council is able to help people like Tracey attend these kinds of competitions.”

Money will also be used to bring elite coaches to Griffith for specific sports if the

Sports Council believes it is helpful.