By Greg Blood

Play Well is the latest Australian Sports Commission (ASC) attempt at improving sports participation in Australia. Its worthwhile reflecting on its journey to this strategy.

Play Well (Pdf) is stated as Australia’s first co-designed Sport Participation Strategy. It was co-designed with major players in the sport sector.
Play Well covers all the areas that impact on sport participation. It has six stated priority areas:

1. Empowering people and organisations – Building the capability of people and organisations to meet the needs of everyone involved in sport.
2. Driving lifelong involvement – foster a sporting environment that enables positive lifelong involvement in sport.
3. Activating places and spaces – creating, improving, activating and better managing places and spaces to ensure everyone can have safe and enjoyable sporting experiences.
4. Building connections – creating a connected and collaborative sport ecosystem that supports all organisations to provide quality sporting experiences.
5. Equitable access – prioritising equity and choice to ensure all Australians can access sport.
6. Transforming culture – transforming the culture of sport in Australia to create an environment where everyone can access safe, inclusive, welcoming and fun experiences.
   

Play Well strategy is well explained and has lofty and important aims. But it also highlights the complexity of the sport system and the many factors that impact on sport participation. The success of Play Well in many ways will be determined particularly by long-term funding and the commitment of those working in the sport sector. I have observed since the 1980’s this has waxed and waned due to changes in government and turnover of significant sport leaders.

It is worthwhile reflecting on the ASC’s attempts in the sports participation space since its format establishment in 1985.

1980’s

• 1985 – Australian Sports Commission (ASC) established and allocated funds for sports participation activities – national sports organisations (NSOs) and specific groups. Start of NSOs being allocated annual funding for sports participation.
• 1986 – Launch of Aussie Sports to engage primary school students in sport.
• 1988 – Community Recreation and Sport Facility Program to fund local sporting facilities.
• 1988 – ASC’s Women’s Sport Promotion Unit established to promote women’s involvement in sport.
• 1989 – National Adolescent Girls in Sport Campaign launched

1990’s

• 1991 – Australian Coaching Council officially became part of the ASC’s coaching arm.
• 1991- Challenge, Achievement and Pathways in Sport (CAPS) to assist young people to become involved in leadership opportunities in sports – coaching, officiating and administration.
• 1991 – Aussie Able launched to promote athletes with disabilities.
• 1993 – Mature Aged Sport Program launched.
• 1993 – National Umpiring Development Program established to improve the quality and status of umpiring in Australia.
• 1995 – Willing and Able a joint program of AUSSIE Sport and AUSSIE Able to assist teachers and community leaders to include young people with disability in physical activity sessions.
• 1995 – National Officiating Accreditation Scheme established.
• 1996 –ASC Indigenous Sport Program established.
• 1997 – – ASC’s “Active Australia: a National Participation Framework launched and – incorporated existing ASC brands such as AUSSIE SPORT, Willing and Able, Club Development and the Volunteer Involvement Program.

2000’s

• 2001 – Backing Australia’s Sporting Ability Policy included Targeted Sports Participation Growth program – $11.5 m over 3 years – with the aim to expand grass roots sports membership by adding one million more participants. Assisted 22 NSO’s. It also included the 1800 Reverse Street Active program.  
• 2003 – Good Sport Monitor – a program to support safe, fun and nurturing junior sport environments by making resources and strategies available to sporting clubs and organisations that can be modified and implemented to address ‘ugly’ issues.
• 2004 – ASC’s Active After-school Communities program (AASC) launched- $90 million over 4 years.
• 2004 – Sports Ability  – program to increase sports participation by people with disabilities and will build on the integration of events for elite athletes with disabilities into the main sporting program of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
• 2005 Play by the Rules – a partnership between 19 government agencies including every state department of sport and recreation, every federal and state anti-discrimination commission, the ASC and the Queensland Commission for Children and Young People.
• 2006 – Community Coach and Official Program – established to develop and support community-level coaches and officials.
• 2014 – Community Coaching General Principles online coaching course
• 2007 – $125 million extension of the ASSC program through to December 2010.
• 2007 – All Australian Sporting Initiative – program to increase the participation of children from multicultural backgrounds in structured physical activity.

2010s

• 2010 – $43.5 million to continue the Active After-school Communities (AASC) program.
• 2010 – National Sport and Active Recreation Policy Framework and the National Institute System Intergovernmental Agreement, which provided a collective vision for developing sport in Australia. It delivered new ongoing participation funding of $11.3 million to 30 NSOs and additional one-off participation funding of $2 million to seven NSOs.
• 2010 – Play for Life – a campaign to join a sporting club.
• 2015 – Sporting Schools launched and replaced ASSC
• 2015 – Play.Sport.Australia. – a strategy designed to have more Australians playing organised sport, more often.
• 2018 Move It Aus, a national campaign to increase awareness of the value of physical activity as part of everyday life.
• 2018 – Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program – $100m program to fund local sports facilities
• 2019 – Australian Physical Literacy Framework – promotes a shared vision, common language and consistent understanding about what physical literacy is and how it can be developed.

2020’s

• 2020 – Sporting Schools Plus -a pilot program funded 450 schools to boost students’ physical literacy.
• 2020 – Share a Yarn’ -a program to connect elite athletes with Indigenous communities to learn about country, traditional owners of the land and history and culture, to assist athletes to enrich their position to be better role models for the Australian community.
• 2021 – Capability Building Grant Program – to provide investment opportunities for small and medium sports to help build their capability or support participation planning.
• 2021 – Participation Grant Program – programs that bring communities together and help more Australians enjoy the social, personal and health benefits participating in community sport and physical activity can deliver.
• 2023 – Play Well Sport Participation Strategy launched.
• 2023 –Play Well Participation Grant Program for projects that drive participation in sport launched.

This list is not exhaustive but highlights the numerous ways that the ASC has endeavoured to improve sports participation in Australia since 1985.

Recently I published the article It’s Time for Participation to Receive its Fair Share of the Sports Funding Pie that highlighted the need for more funding for sport participation possibly at the expense of high performance sport. Greater investment by all levels of government and major sports will be required to meet the lofty aims of Play Well. This may be difficult when all levels of government are reviewing their expenditure due to increasing costs and many competing demands.

Play Well has set out four horizons (periods) of strategy implementation and evaluation: alignment (2024-2026), accelerate (2027-2029) and realise (2020-2032), capitalisation of Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games (2033-2036). Play Well is a long-term participation strategy that was missing in the led up to 2000 Sydney Olympics and Paralympics.

My main reservation is concerning whether Play Well will be given the significant financial resources to allow it to succeed. History tells me that sport participation funding lags significantly behind high performance. Also Play Well will have to survive changes in all levels of government and sport leaders. History tells me every new government and sport leader want to develop their own plan and strategy.

The Albanese government is in the process of developing a new National Sports Plan. What happened to the Sport 2030 plan launched in 2018 ? It only lasted 5 years. The awarding of the 2032 Brisbane Games might be a reason for a new plan. But increasing sports participation should not be connected to hosting a significant sporting event – it should be the day to day goal of all players in the sport sector particularly all levels of government.