What is the ASC?
Who we are
The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is a statutory authority of the Australian Government. The roles and responsibilities of the ASC are laid out in the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989. The ASC is governed by a board of commissioners appointed by the Australian Government. The board determines the ASC’s overall direction, decides on actual allocation of resources and policy for delegated decisions, and is accountable to the Minister for Sport and to Parliament.
Since its establishment in 1989, the ASC has earned a national and international reputation for its innovative, quality programs and for the delivery of these programs. The internationally renowned Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), a key component of the Commission, is a leading centre of excellence for the training and development of high performance athletes and coaches.
The ASC is comprised of six divisions:
- the Australian Institute of Sport
- Sport Performance and Development
- Corporate Services
- Commercial and Facilities
- Community Sport
- Finance.
What we do
The ASC is Australia’s primary national sports administration and advisory agency, and the cornerstone of a wide-ranging sports system. On behalf of the Australian Government, the ASC plays a central leadership role in the development and operation of the Australian sports system, administering and funding innovative sport programs and providing leadership, coordination and support for the sports sector.
The ASC is recognised as a world leader in the development of high performance sport and sports participation. Services are provided in a range of fields including:
- high performance coaching
- sport sciences
- sports information
- sports management
- facility management
- education and resources
- participation development
- delivery of funding programs to national sporting organisations.
Our mission
‘To enrich the lives of all Australians through sport’
Our vision
To continue to be recognised as the world leader in developing high performance and community sport.
Our values
In its relationship with its stakeholders, the ASC will:
- be responsive to their needs
- consult and endeavour to reach common understandings
- be open and transparent
- listen and communicate openly
- accept full responsibility for its decisions and actions.
Our objectives
The ASC’s Strategic Plan 2006–2009 sets the direction, strategies and broad framework that allow the ASC to meet its statutory objectives and achieve the outcomes the Australian Government requires. The ASC’s key objectives are to secure an effective national sports system that supports improved participation in quality sport activities by Australians, and to secure excellence in sports performance by Australians.
Critical result areas to assess the success of the plan’s implementation include:
- sustained achievements in high performance sports by Australian teams and individuals
- maintaining the AIS as a world centre of excellence for the training and development of elite athletes and coaches
- growth in sports participation at the grassroots level, particularly by Indigenous Australians, people with disabilities, youth and women
- increased opportunities for children to be physically active
- best-practice management and governance of sport in and through national sporting organisations
- increased adoption of the values of fair play, self-improvement and achievement
- recruitment, retention and, where appropriate, accreditation of people in the sports sector
- enhancement of Australia’s leadership in the international sports community
- improved economic efficiency in, and commercial return to, the ASC and national sporting organisations
- a drug-free sporting environment.
Sport in Australia
Sport is widely recognised as an integral part of Australian life, and the Australian Government provides funding for sport as an investment in the community in terms of national pride, improved health, economic activity and stronger communities. Our national sports system is a partnership between the Australian Government (represented by the ASC), national sporting organisations and their affiliated bodies, state and territory government sports agencies, and other groups.
National sporting organisations rely on us for support and advice that helps them encourage more community participation by making sports safer, more inviting and better managed. This means that all Australians — including coaches, people with disability, Indigenous Australians, juniors, officials, older people, volunteers, and women and girls — have opportunities to be involved.
Our commitment to developing a strong grassroots involvement in sport, as well as providing opportunities for developing elite excellence, means that the ASC:
- manages the internationally acclaimed Australian Institute of Sport, the national centre of sports excellence for the training and development of high performance athletes and teams. The AIS gives athletes access to expert coaching, world-leading sports science and sports medicine services, state-of-the-art sports facilities and opportunities for travel, work and study
- supports the development of the Australian sport system from the grassroots to high performance level through our Sport Performance and Development division, which gives national sporting organisations access to information and resources, including funding, policy development advice and management models, education, emerging information technologies and evaluation frameworks.
ASC funding is carefully structured and applied to develop sport from the grassroots to the high performance level. The dual concepts of participation and elite pathways for athletes, coaches, officials and administrators lies at the heart of a sport’s effective planning processes. The ASC directs its funding to ensure these pathways are in place and are effective in delivering increased participation and continued international sporting success.
The National Elite Sports Council (NESC) is comprised of the directors of Australia’s key state, territory and national sports institutes and academies. Through the NESC, the eight state and territory sports institutes and academies and the Australian Institute of Sport form a national network of principal providers of high performance sport programs and services.
Both the ASC and the NESC play significant roles in supporting and delivering high performance programs on behalf of national and state sporting organisations in Australia.
