Sport Australia has announced the launch of the Participation Design Toolkit, aimed at helping sports design new products to attract and retain participants.

Sport Australia acting CEO, Rob Dalton, said the toolkit contains information, resources and tools to help sports develop participation plans or evolve their existing products or programs to meet the needs of sporting participants through COVID-19 and beyond.

“We know from our research that COVID-19 has led people away from sport to physical activity or less activity all together,” Dalton said.

“While 93% of Australian children aged 5-13 participated in physical activity, only one in four said sport was a main interest or hobby, and more than half (52%) of children surveyed said sport needed to fit in with other things they do, highlighting the competition sport is facing from other interests and activities.

“By working with sports to design participation experiences that are fun, inclusive and participant-centred, we can improve Australians’ attitudes towards club sport and encourage more people to be active,” he said.

Australian Minister for Sport, Richard Colbeck, said the toolkit will help sport organisations appeal to a growing market of adults looking for social sport.

“We know sport is crucial for Australia’s recovery and this toolkit, along with Sport Australia’s Game Plan, gives clubs and sporting organisations the knowledge, resources and tools they need to develop new products and programs to not only entice participants back to sport but keep them playing for longer and enjoying the physical and mental benefits playing sport brings,” Colbeck said.

The new toolkit was developed in consultation with national sporting organisations and VicHealth, and includes market and life stage insights and evidence-based enabling approaches to participation design.

Athletics Australia general manager of growth and development, Adam Bishop, said: “The Participation Design Toolkit is an excellent resource for sports looking to develop or refine their participation product offering.”

“The toolkit is particularly valuable in that it pulls together existing Sport Australia resources and demonstrates how they can be used to inform the design of new participation products, refining existing products or as thought starters when approaching participation planning,” Bishop said.

Adding further, Hockey Australia general manager of growth, legal and strategy, Michael Johnston, said: “Having the breadth of Sport Australia’s quality participation design resources in one place is invaluable to sporting organisations undertaking participation design and planning.”

“With the launch of Hockey’s new National Participation and Engagement Plan, we see huge opportunities to access the toolkit and promote it among our stakeholders in bringing our plan to life,” Johnston said.