What is ASPA?

The Australian Sports Professionals Association (ASPA) is an industry association for individuals who work, volunteer or study in sport in Australia—all the way from club volunteers and paid administrators of small state/territory sports to CEOs and Board members of large national sports. It has been set up by the industry, for the industry.

Our vision

To strengthen the sporting industry through forming an individuals' association to bring its workforce together.

Our mission

To be the leading organisation in the Australian Sports Industry empowering individuals to build the capacity, efficiency and innovation of the sector via collaboration, communication and education.

What we do

The Australian Sports Professionals Association is a membership based service, consisting of more than 200 sporting professionals at inception. Our membership includes volunteers, paid employees, board directors, business professionals and students in the sporting industry.

ASPA will support its membership through the provision of:

networking events;
training and education opportunities;
knowledge sharing sessions;
regular industry publications focusing on best practice and actionable case studies;
mentoring opportunities, and;
awards and recognition

...for professionals of all levels within our industry.

Origins

The origins of the Australian Sports Professionals Association come from a group of hard working, passionate individuals in sport based out of the Olympic Park precinct in Sydney, Australia.

As professionals working in sport, there was a constant message being heard at (almost) every conference, forum, networking event or seminar.

“Everyone in our industry is facing similar challenges. We need to make this easier for ourselves. We need a better, smarter way to connect to and learn from each other as individuals.”

Each of the founding professionals came from a different background (including law, business, marketing, medicine), and each of those industries had a strong organisation for individuals that could support the workforce of that industry—yet sport did not have that.

Networking events in sport can be 'echo chambers' that rehash the same concepts each year. There was no organisation for individuals to join to share knowledge and actionable strategies that could lead to positive change, regardless of who the person was or how big their sport.

ASPA is changing this!

ASPA aims to bring our industry together to establish Australia as a global leader in best practice in managing sporting organisations, to provide increased value to those working in our industry, and to arm the next generation of professionals with a strong network in which to operate. ope

Four state sport federations (Sport NSW, QSport, WA Sports Federation and Sport SA) joined over 40 state and national sporting organisations in committing their support to the idea, and ASPA was born.

Organisational structure

To make ASPA viable, it was decided it would need corporate venture backing. ASPA is a funded and wholly owned service managed by SportsGrid Pty Ltd, a Sydney-based sports company. We have used a model similar to other sporting initiatives such as the National Sports Convention—a service organised by the industry, for the industry, but commercially run so it remains sustainable.

SportsGrid are committed to using their resources to run the association, and to serve as event organisers and moderators. Content for publications, events and case studies comes directly from association members, and we serve as the "organising body" who have taken the initative and financial risk to start (and maintain) ASPA.

It is envisioned that the organisation will form an advisory board as time progresses to shepherd the direction nationally.

The management team

If you've come to an ASPA event, you'll have met the following faces! They are the ones who have committed the time and effort to start this for the industry.