Sport Development Processes and Practices in Australia

Previous efforts to depict sport development resulted in the participation pyramid. The participation pyramid, even though not empirically derived, has shaped the thinking, conceptualizing, and planning for sport development in various countries, including Australia. As practices have evolved to epitomize more dynamic processes than those reflected in the pyramid, this book examines national sporting organisations' (NSOs) practices in Australia. The three models presented in this book are the attraction, retention/transition, and nurturing (ARTN) process and illustrate the generic processes and strategies reported by thirty five NSOs. The ARTN models show that each process requires human and financial input from various stakeholders who initiate/implement strategies, and each process has different outputs. The ARTN models demonstrate that sport development is more complex and encompassing than previously described. The analysis should shed some light on this complex environment that sport development takes place and should be especially useful to professionals in sport organisations, sport development officers, sport managers, researchers and students.