Formed to fill the gap for an active and vibrant forum for leisure and recreation professionals, the Leisure and Recreation Association of South Africa (LARASA) was formally launched during a late afternoon session on the second day of the 2010 South African Sport and Recreation Conference.
The body, formed by recreation professionals and educators from the universities of North West, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape aims to be a networking platform and information clearing house for South Africans working in the leisure and recreation fields.
Properly constituted and registered as a non-profit organisation with its own website at http://www.larasa.org.za/ the organisation hopes to attract both corporate and individual memberships from academic institutions, government agencies and the private sector across South Africa.
Many interested conference delegates attended the launch. Among them was Mr Robert Hall, a past president of the National Recreation and Parks Association of America (NPRA), who wished LARASA well in its future activities. He expressed the hope that LARASA will establish a memorandum of understanding with the NPRA, enabling the organisations to exchange ideas, information and skills.
The Director-General of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA), Mr Vernie Petersen was also present at the launch, and congratulated the organisation on its formation.
LARASA hopes to offer members various benefits through its programmes, among other by launching a specialist leisure and recreation industry magazine, conferences and international affiliations.
The first President is Ms Maliga Naidoo, a Lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. A board has been established that will oversee the activities of the organisation.
"We decided to use SASRECON as a platform for launching LARASA as the conference is attended by many people active and recreation. In that way SASRECON has helped us achieve our goal of attracting new members," said Ms Naidoo.
See the http://www.larasa.org.za/ for more information on the organisation.
Source: Sport and Recreation South Africa
New recreation body formed at the South African Sport and Recreation Conference (SASRECON)
