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Introduction

The Western Australian Sport Development Pathways Strategy’s (strategy) vision is to support WA State sporting associations (SSA) to create environments where athletes, coaches and officials are provided with every opportunity to develop and achieve.

The Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport (CITS) recognises the strategy as a vital initiative focused on sustaining the representation of Western Australians (WA) on the national and international sporting stage.

It is critical to the WA sport sector that there are increased sporting opportunities for community participants to progress through quality development pathways and into high-performance environments.

The creation of positive development environments and experiences will ensure increased opportunities for emerging talent within development pathways. The strategy will bridge the gap from community to high-performance sport through increased knowledge, systems and structures in SSAs.

Sector consultation

The strategy was developed through an extensive and ongoing consultation period that included surveys, workshops and forums with SSAs. Further stakeholder engagement included the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS), Regional Academies of Sport, SportWest, VenuesWest, NSW Office of Sport, Australian Sports Commission (ASC), Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), Paralympics Australia, and multiple national and international experts

Sector challenges and gaps

The consultation provided further clarity on the profile and demands on SSAs. With the 3 primary elements of the sporting system being:

community participation
development pathways
high performance.

SSAs are primarily responsible for community participation and development pathways. This represents a broad and extensive workload, with SSAs consistently challenged in how they anticipate and adapt to the needs of a dynamic sector.

Consistent and problematic challenges are present in relation to development pathways in the following areas:

organisational capacity
volunteer time and availability
financial resources
stakeholder engagement
adoption of athlete development frameworks
research and evidence informed practices
program reviews and learnings
strategic and operational planning
detailed parent support
sports science and sports medicine insights.

Western Australian Sport Development Pathways Strategy

In acknowledging this demand on SSAs, CITS has created the strategy to support SSAs in their efforts to elevate development pathway practices and provide a progressive link between community participation and high-performance sport.

Through the activation of the strategy, CITS will:

support SSAs to provide quality development environments and experiences for athletes, coaches and officials
equip volunteers with the skills and confidence to advance their knowledge and provide them with quality experiences
enable SSAs to establish strategies and practices to advance development pathway effectiveness, increasing retention and progression
encourage a cohesive sporting system to align club, state and national bodies
create development pathway resources for SSAs and parents to educate and inform on key areas of interest.

Strategic outcomes

The outcomes of the strategy are identified at the individual, organisational (SSA) and sector level. CITS’s focus is on supporting the achievement of organisational level outcomes, from which individual and sector level outcomes will result.

Individual

a healthier relationship with sport and their experiences
athletes, coaches and officials with greater ownership, understanding and accountability
more informed parents with greater decision-making ability
more skilled athletes, coaches and officials
athletes, coaches and officials who have improved sport development opportunities and experiences.

Organisational

greater discipline specific knowledge and understanding
improved development of specific strategies
sector leading coach and official education and development support
increased awareness of research and evidence informed practices
improved program review and learning processes
increased sector engagement.

Sector

enhanced and expanded range of programs and services delivered to all people living in regional and remote areas
ensure a community with a strong sense of physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing
expanded pipeline from community level-participation to high-performance sport
a vibrant, and robust sector with growth in retention and new culturally diverse participants

Future direction and strategic initiatives

CITS has established the strategy over 3 structured horizons.

Horizon 1: Identify and adapt 2026 — 2028
Horizon 2: Substantiate and evolve 2029 — 2031
Horizon 3: Elevate and transform 2032 and beyond

The strategy starts with a foundation based on current evidence and will be responsive to emerging information driven by an active approach to evaluation and assessment, further informing Horizon 2 and 3.

The strategy is built on 4 strategic priorities. These priorities contain a total of 12 strategic initiatives to be activated.

These initiatives will enable CITS to effectively provide enhanced system leadership to SSAs for development pathways and continue to support and lead the sector more broadly. The priorities and initiatives are:

1. Holistic system design and development

1.1 cross-jurisdictional partnerships

1.2 purposeful investment

1.3 holistic coaching and officiating

2. Capability and capacity

2.1 SSA pathway health check

2.2 development guidelines and athletic development

2.3 organisational and system learning.

3. Leadership and stakeholder engagement

3.1 Sector learning and engagement

3.2 Research and evidence-based practices

3.3 Technology informed practices.

4. System alignment

4.1 SSA and Regional Athlete Support Program (RASP) engagement

4.2 Alignment with WAIS

4.3 Coordinated system support.

CITS will positively support and impact the sector in a progressive and ongoing manner. This will be achieved through supporting SSAs to identify, understand and implement advanced development pathway knowledge and practices, optimising elevated environments and experiences. This will result in a more informed and cohesive sector that identifies and leverages the strengths, roles and responsibilities of all within the sporting system.

What are development pathways?

Development Pathways, also referred to as talent development pathways or talent development environments, provide the appropriate conditions for youth athletes to realise their full sporting potential¹ The quality of the talent development environment is important to long-term success, highlighting the need to understand how to actively create these environments²

Development pathways can consist of varying environments and phases, including:

club development programs and academies
representative and performance development pathways
talent development pathways
other sport specific structures.

High performers will emerge when ‘environments are advanced to enrich an individual’s sport development experience’. This extends beyond their technical and tactical development to include holistic development, health, wellbeing and psychosocial development ³.

The profile underpinning an athlete’s sporting development, progression and attainment of elite performance is multi-dimensional⁴. In prioritising learning and development ahead of performance outcomes, development pathways positively exhibit the below traits:⁵

culture of learning and improvement
person-centred approach
open, accessible and inclusive
alignment and coherence across the pathway
balance of challenge and support
focus on holistic development
adaptive to individual needs
focus on long term development.

Beyond improved sporting performances, effective development pathways are reflected by a healthy, engaged and robust sporting system, where athletes are provided every opportunity to develop and achieve in the pursuit of their sporting ambitions.

WA sport landscape stakeholders

The WA sport landscape stakeholder map (Figure 1) characterises the 3 key macro levels of the sport continuum — foundational (grass roots participation), pre-elite (development) and elite (high performance). The continuum is viewed from the perspective of governance, funding, events and direct service support. The positioning of the strategy is identified by the blue arrow on the left of the image.

CITS provides funding and support to organisations across the whole sport continuum, including to WAIS, regional academies of sport and SSAs. It also funds the development of sports infrastructure at all levels of the performance continuum.

WAIS is an integral service provider supporting national high-performance target outcomes through its supported Olympics and Paralympic sport programs, and direct support of categorised athletes (i.e. emerging, developing, podium potential, podium ready, podium) that are formally recognised by their respective national sporting organisation⁶.

Download the PDF for further details.

References

Examining European Talent Development Environments: Athlete, Parent and Coach Perceptions., Journal of Sports Sciences, Vol 40, pp2533-2543, B Megicks, et al. 2022.
Compromising Talent: Issues in identifying and selecting talent in sport, Quest, Vol 70 No 1, pp48-63. J Baker, J Schorer, N Wattie, 2018.
Optimising long-term athletic development: An investigation of practitioners’ knowledge, adherence, practices and challenges PLOS One, K Till et al. 2022.
Routledge Handbook on Talent Identification and Development, Chapter 5, How Contemporary International Perspectives have Consolidated a Best-Practice Approach for Identifying and Developing Sporting Talent. J Weissensteiner, 2016.
Applied Coaching Research Journal Vol 6. UK Coaching. Athletes as Learners: Characteristics of High-quality Learning and Development Environments, 2020.
Future Champions Pathways to Sporting Success, NSW Office of Sport. https://www.sport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-04/future-champions-strategy-full-version_0.pdf

Page reviewed 01 July 2025