Sport in Australia

[Guest christel]

Hi,

Read a few posts about sport in Australia and just thought I'd give some further info, sorry if I've not captured your sport but its easy to google.

 

Also, Australia is big on sports, massive for child development and quite different from the UK as we have the Australian Institue of Sport (AIS) and each state/territory has their own branch. Children attend the AIS from the ages of 7 upward should they be considered good enough by the many scouts and coaches around the country. Im not sure that we actually have anything like this in England, we have seperate entities but they are barely governement funded. You are able to speak to the AIS or other authorities should you consider someone good enough to refer, they do actually talk to you! I am able to refer someone directly to them for an assessment by either a physical appearance or a video - hugely different from the UK.

 

The scouts and coaches also pick up on anyone that has a superior talent and moves them forward to extra training within city teams (cadets for major teams)

 

There is a choice of all sports here throughout the year, my step sons play rugby, rugby league, soccer, AFL, cricket, karate and softball..my daughter does netball, basketball, gymnastics but could do hockey, softball and phew! knows whatelse lol..The football ovals, courts, pitches etc are a wash with kids and parents at the weekends..all taking picnics all meeting socially..all having a ball ! And just to say its a family thing everyone goes!

 

There is no holding back here if the person is good, capable and has a passion then there is no stopping them...thats why you see a lot of green and gold at the olympics and you get to learn the National Anthem pretty quickly lol !

 

I've listed the Institute of Sports around AUS for you to have a look

 

ACT: www.ausport.gov.au , WA: www.wais.org.au , SA: www.recsport.sa.gov.au , NT: www.ntis.net.gov.au , VIC: www.vis.org.au , NSW: www.nswis.com.au , QLD: www.qasport.qld.gov.au , TAS: www.tis.tas.gov.au

 

Soccer: www.footballaustralia.com

Gymnastics: www.gymnsatics.org.au

 

Sorry guys...gymnastics coach here - does it show I love sport lol ! x

 

PSSSSSSSSSs. sport doesn't stop when you leave school..there are senior teams for men and women in just about everything!..if you miss it - play it!

[Quoll]

Um - the AIS is a bit more elitist than that - only gymnasts attend at a very early age - I thought it was 8 although ethically I have serious doubts about training like China as we seem to be doing at the moment. All the other sports are very much invitation selection and the kids need to have achieved at a high level before they are taken on - swimmers have to be at least at national level. The states do have talent searches of various kinds - usually about upper primary and kids who may have thought they had a future in netball suddenly find themselves being coached on a bike. The talent searches do tend to take on more kids with the right body shape than the existing skills and coach them up. Certainly the AIS isnt seen by the Canberra community as being an accessible resource - on the contrary, it is very elitist and though you may swim in their pools (sometimes) and run on their track (occasionally) they dont do that much in the community and their athletes are so busy being international that they have little to do with us except maybe go to school (some of the time) or college (occasionally). Their sports medics will see elite sportsmen from the community I do admit.

 

One thing I do notice though is that in Australian education there is an antipathy towards competitive sport because everyone needs to have the chance to do their best and winners are not always lauded, especially in PS. Out of school though, there is a huge competitiveness with a real ugly face to some sports where parents are so hung up on their kids being top that they behave in entirely inappropriate ways. What strikes me is that the fun has gone from sport here - very few kids go and kick a ball around, they dont even shoot hoops much in suburbia any more - they used to, it used to be quite common for many houses to have a hoop outside. Kids who swim competitively rarely go near the water for fun and generally it is all rather regimented. You occasionally see a game of beach cricket - but I saw more this last summer in UK than I usually see on the beach here. Similarly with frisbee in the park etc.

 

So, yes, Australia does do well at elite sport and our tax payer dollars support them very nicely thank you but I dont know that that translates to kids using sport for fun and fitness - see the stats on obese young Aussies. I think it is a shame really - parents seem to think that as long as the kids get a game at the weekend and maybe a training session during the week that is all that is required. With all the resources and facilities we have here you would think we would do better.

[Guest christel]

WOW! i didnt quite expect such a negative line lol..but I conscede to your knowledge of city living..I live in the country and sport is fun, sport is also competitive yes, but fun..all the families attend for support they even support the opposing team lol..

 

And yes the Wais here is friendly and helpful if its not anwywhere else then thats a shame..

 

I put the info on for help and assistance to see what sports are avaialble..not for people to try to sign their children up to an Institute lol..

 

Anyway sorry that you feel im a pushy coach and mum lol, Im not but Sport For All is my motto..no matter what standard you are you gotta and will have fun trying x

[Quoll]

Nope didnt imply you were a pushy coach and mum at all - was just saying that the institutes are for elite athletes and until you get to that level they generally couldnt give a toss about you. The ACT academy of sport is good too but not for Joe Blow who fancies doing a bit of Little Athletics, then it is the grass roots clubs which provide the structures and training. Similarly, the plethora of kids soccer teams, rugby teams etc. The institutes are really only interested in kids who are off first base and showing their lights in state and national competitions. I quite understand that gymnastics is different and the kids dont need to be at national level, they just have to demonstrate that they have the physique and talent because it is such an early entry, short life sport. It is misleading to let folk assume that their kids will get AIS support if they are "good" - they have to be top 1% nationally not just good, unfortunately.

 

I was apalled at the level of school swimming when I came here - like everyone else I thought that it would be a nation of top level swimmers but it isnt - many of the schools I went to could barely boast a relay team, mainly because the parents thought that the school swimming lessons were all that were required and did very little else.