A pathway to participation for all

People from migrant and refugee backgrounds are often enthusiastic about sport and recreation. Like all Australians they enjoy the opportunity to participate in a supported and structured environment.

The All Cultures pages are designed to provide information to coaches, trainers and volunteers delivering sport and recreation programs for people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Whilst this information is specially directed towards people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, the strategies that we have suggested apply to all and are an integral part of general coaching practices.

Your Community Today - Your role

As a coach or club member it is important to take an interest in and become familiar with the circumstances of players/participants under your influence that are from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.

A greater understanding and awareness of lifestyle, experiences, attitudes and culture of people from multicultural backgrounds by sports coaches and clubs can help promote social inclusion in communities. It will encourage participation and support positive sporting and social experiences of every member of your club or community group.

It is important to have an understanding of what we mean when we use terms such as migrant, refugee and asylum seeker.

Migrant

A migrant is someone who chooses to leave their country of origin for a range of personal or economic reasons.

Refugee

A refugee is someone who has suffered or has a well-founded fear of suffering persecution for reasons of race, religion, and membership of a particular social group or political opinion and as a result of this has fled their country.

Asylum seeker

An asylum seeker is someone who is seeking asylum or protection in a country that is not his or her country of origin or nationality. Asylum seekers may be refugees, but until their application is approved by the government they will not be recognised as refugees.

Broad terms

Multicultural, Intercultural and CLD or CALD are terms used to describe people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The term is used to describe people who are born overseas or who are Australian born with one or both parents (or grandparents) born overseas.

The Landscape

Australia is one of the most culturally diverse societies of the 21st century.

According to the 2006 Census, 22.2% of the Australian population was born overseas and over 40% had one or both parents born overseas.

Cultural differences, attitudes (interpersonal, institutional and internalised) and a lack of awareness, knowledge and accessibility are all important issues that have contributed to the under representation of people from migrant, new arrival and refugee backgrounds in Australian sport.

To effectively increase participation and interest in sport of this group, coaches and clubs, as the primary drivers of sports programs in this country, need to be to be supported.

All Cultures is designed to support coaches and sporting clubs by:

• helping to build an understanding of the issues that affect the level of involvement of members of migrant, new arrival and refugee communities in sport
• providing practical strategies to recruit and retain this target group to and in sport
• modeling successful programs and strategies currently adopted by a variety of sports across Australia
• providing data on available support networks and resource centres
• making available important support tools such as guidelines and templates.