ABSTRACT
Through the policy platform expressed in BASA, the Commonwealth Government has clearly indicated its support for junior sporting programmes and initiatives. The BASA policy states that ‘our aim is to see more sport played at the grass-roots level, particularly amongst school-aged children and in rural areas’ (Commonwealth of Australia, 2001: 6). This policy flows on from the National Junior Sport Policy: A Framework for Developing Junior Sport in Australia first released in 1994 under the guidance of John Faulkner, the then Federal Minister for the Environment, Sport and Territories (ASC, 1994). Most notably, the policy identifies a junior sport development model, which emphasises the importance of customised activities for junior participants of different ages. It was also one of the first serious attempts to encourage modified competitions, rules, and games for juniors. While junior sport development is pivotal to the future health of Australian sport, cultivating junior participation is troublesome for many NSOs. In particular, they must combat a leisure market where opportunities to spend discretionary leisure time are plentiful, and where many attractive options are sedentary in nature. Moreover, the last five years have ushered in a new series of modified sport activities, designed specifically to promote junior participation. Most recently the ASC has facilitated the introduction of additional programmes and the expansion of many existing ones, through their TSPG programme. The TSPG programme, which is administered through NSOs, was examined in detail in Chapter 9.
