After spending time throughout the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Accelerate program exploring career pathways and the importance of networking, participants recently had the opportunity to put those lessons into practice at an industry connection event.
Held in Melbourne, the Accelerate Connections event brought together the cohort of retired women athletes, many of whom have competed at Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games level, with local leaders from across the sport system.
Designed to spark connections, the event offered participants a deeper understanding of the pathways available in sport, with guests sharing insights from across high performance, participation, wellbeing, integrity, governance and leadership.
Olympian and former rower Karina Newmarch said the program has strengthened her desire to contribute to Australian sport beyond competition with the event reinforcing just how valuable those initial conversations can be.
“Connections are everything,” Newmarch said.
“Perhaps the biggest lesson for me was that people genuinely want to help others succeed. Sometimes you simply need to be willing to ask.”
Among the guests was Julie Symons, Senior Manager at the Centre for Multicultural Sport, who said the sporting sector has much to gain from the perspectives of elite athletes.
“I’m always keen to support sportswomen at any stage of their pathway to explore their careers and leadership aspirations, and to address the commonly held self doubt that many athletes have about how their experiences as athletes translate beyond a high performance setting,” Symons said.
“This was an extraordinary group of women with diverse sporting and lived experience. It was not lost on me that the sector would be very lucky to harness their collective contribution, across every aspect of the sporting landscape.”
