Basketball Australia:
a case study in Australia’s Winning Edge
Following the launch of Australia’s Winning Edge, Basketball Australia’s (BA) high performance program reviewed its Centre of
Excellence program at the AIS to ensure it was tailored towards the needs of the men’s and women’s programs as identified by the
national coaches.
BA women’s program has gone from strength to strength with the senior team, the Opals, winning bronze at the World Cup, the
under-25 team winning gold at the Uni Games and the under-19s (Gems) and under-17s (Sapphires) winning bronze and gold
respectively at their World Championships.
BA men’s program has seen a number of its Centre of Excellence athletes offered scholarships at sought after colleges in the USA.
The program has been provided National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) certification for a Prospects Camp, which was held in
July where the nation’s brightest young talents were assessed by NCAA college scouts.
High performance funding support
• The AIS has invested more than $21 million in high performance funding for Basketball Australia in the four years leading into
the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, including $1.3 million in direct athlete support payments known as dAIS.
• This represents a seven per cent increase in support compared with the four years leading into the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Participation
• In 2015-16 Basketball Australia received almost $910,000 in participation funding.
• The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has worked closely with Basketball Australia to be part of the Sporting Schools
program.
• The ASC also provided $200,000 in funding to BA to focus on a new tier of its participation product called Aussie Hoops All-Star.
Sports Science and Sports Medicine
• A total of $420,000 has been invested annually for high-performance support staff in physiotherapy, medicine, nutrition,
performance analysis, physiology, psychology and strength & conditioning for Basketball Australia.
dAIS – Supporting Australian basketballers
In the past four years 49 Basketball Australia athletes have shared more than $1.3 million in direct athlete funding, known as dAIS.
dAIS payments to Basketball Australia athletes have increased by 40 per cent in the Rio cycle.
These dAIS grants benefit emerging and established athletes. dAIS basketballers who have been selected to go to the Rio Games
are:
Josh Allison (P)
Matthew Dellavedova
Matthew McShane
Shawn Russell (P)
Cameron Bairstow
Katie Ebzery
Leilani Mitchell
Tige Simmons (P)
Jannik Blair (P)
Cayla George
Brad Ness (P)
Brett Stibners
Natalie Burton
Laura Hodges
Shaun Norris (P)
Stephanie Talbot
Elizabeth Cambage
Tristan Knowles (P)
Tom O’Neill-Thorne (P)
Marianna Tolo
Adam Deans
Bill Latham (P)
Erin Phillips
(P) denotes wheelchair basketballer
•
Gold denotes world champion since the London Games
ASC 34550
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ausport.gov.au
/ausport
/theAIS
@australian_institute_of_sport