South Australian Government outlines new strategic vision for sport and recreation

Aiming to address what it says are “dire levels of physical activity among South Australian children and young people” has been identified as a key priority in a new strategic sport and recreation plan for the state.

The South Australian Government’s Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing (ORSR) Strategic Plan for the next five years outlines aims to increase the physical activity levels of South Australians and also improve the performances of our local elite athletes.

The Recreation, Sport and Racing Strategic Plan 2021 – 2025 identifies strategies to increase and embed movement into our daily lives, provide places and spaces that will support and encourage movement and empower our athletes to achieve their sporting dreams.

South Australian Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, Corey Wingard, said increased lifestyle pressures, evolving social norms and the rise of technology has changed the landscape for sport and recreation enormously in the past decade, advising “currently in South Australia, only 26% of children (0-12 years old) and 14% of youth (13-17 years old) meet the National Physical Activity Guidelines of 60 minutes of exercise per day.

“There is an urgent need to shift the dial on activity levels and make physical activity an unquestionable daily habit, in order to reduce pressure on the public health system going forward.

“Providing the right infrastructure to encourage movement is critical to getting South Australians moving regularly.

“We’ve identified gaps in the state’s significant active places and spaces and will address this issue through the optimisation of new and existing infrastructure.”

Minister Wingard (pictured) also highlighted that ‘Sporting Excellence’ had been identified as a key priority in the Strategic Plan, given the significant impact COVID-19 has had on elite athletes over the course of the pandemic.

He added “keeping our elite athletes in peak condition physically and mentally for the postponed Tokyo Games and beyond has been a mammoth task given the challenges we’ve all had to endure over the past 12 months.

“To remain competitive both nationally and internationally, we are exploring options for a brand new world-class High-Performance Sports Hub.

“Our aim is to have South Australian-based athletes comprise 10% of Australian teams and achieve 10% of Australian medals at Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games.”

ORSR Chief Executive, Kylie Taylor recognised that the plan outlines an ambitious set of goals that can’t be delivered by ORSR alone, noting “strategic partnerships across the sporting community, private industry, other government agencies and the education sector will play an integral role in achieving our vision.

“Our aim is to bring together the best minds in government and the business world to meet the challenge.

“We’ve already started to take steps to achieve this through the new Partnerships Grant Program which encourages organisations to leverage partnerships in order to support projects that align with our Game On initiative to get South Australians moving.”

Recreation, Sport and Racing Strategic Plan 2021 - 2025: Strategic Goals

Active Lives - Movement, play and performance is embedded in the daily lives of South Australians.
Places and Spaces - Places and spaces that encourage and support movement, play and performance are accessible to all.
Sporting Excellence - People are empowered to achieve their sporting dreams.
Strategic Excellence - Community outcomes are delivered through strategic partnerships.
Business Performance - Recognised as a respected organisation, delivering high quality services to support the achievement of our strategic goals.

Click here for more information about the Strategic Plan.