- ASC
- Play Well
Finding everyone a place to play
Quality sporting facilities play a vital role in keeping Australians active and connected. To help meet changing community needs, Australia’s first National Community Sport Infrastructure Plan, Places to Play, has been released.
From local ovals and basketball courts to swimming pools and community hubs, quality sporting facilities play a vital role in keeping Australians active and connected.
To help meet changing community needs, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has worked with an Industry Advisory Group to develop Australia’s first National Community Sport Infrastructure Plan, Places to Play.
Places to Play supports a new way of working and delivers a national blueprint designed to support participation-first thinking, more inclusive planning, and better use of existing sporting infrastructure.
Over 2,500 people from across the sport sector contributed to the plan which is a major initiative of the Play Well Strategy. The Industry Advisory Group leading this work included representatives from national sport organisations, state and territory governments, local government, experts in climate change, sustainability and intersectionality.
ASC Executive General Manager of Sport and Community Capability Richard McInnes says community sport participation, in all its forms, is at the heart of Places to Play.
“Play Well’s vision is that everyone has a place in sport, but too often we are building standalone facilities that don’t match the needs of the local community, leading to venues being underutilised, oversubscribed, not fit for purpose or with restricted access.”
“These challenges cannot be addressed by any single organisation acting alone. The Plan is designed to span traditional thinking about levels, codes, roles and jurisdictions. It is a shared plan for collective action by the entire system,” McInnes said.
The plan calls for a shift towards participation-centred decision making, recognising that improving participation outcomes does not always require new infrastructure, but instead a more coordinated and deliberate approach to how existing places are planned, configured, shared and used.
When there is a demonstrated need for new infrastructure, the plan seeks to ensure that these are designed to optimise community access and the participant experience.
It also outlines how stakeholders including all levels of government, sport, education institutions and communities can work together to deliver better outcomes for all Australians.
The Places to Play Plan will be delivered in three phases over a span of ten years, and is intended to guide planning, investment and operational decisions across the community sport infrastructure system.