Play Well is Australia’s first co-designed national sports sector participation strategy, providing a shared direction for increasing participation and ensuring everyone has a place in sport. Built around the ambition to create safe, welcoming, inclusive and fun experiences, Play Well has helped reshape how the sport sector approaches participation.
As Play Well now moves into Horizon 2, Orienteering Australia is building on the strong foundations established through the strategy and its first phase of implementation.
Orienteering Australia was the first national sporting organisation to develop a participation plan using the Play Well strategy. Since then, Play Well has helped shape how we think about participation and has guided the projects we have developed to help more people discover and enjoy orienteering.
This approach has been particularly evident in the development of three national participation programs: Discover Orienteering, Learn to Orienteer and KID-O. Together, these programs provide clearer pathways into orienteering for people of different ages and abilities, helping clubs and organisations create positive first experiences and support participants as they develop their skills and confidence.
These programs reflect the principles at the heart of Play Well: creating positive experiences that are accessible, inclusive and enjoyable, while giving clubs practical tools and resources to support new participants.
As Play Well moves into Horizon 2, the focus shifts from building alignment across the sport sector to activation, with greater emphasis on practical action, partnerships and measurable impact. For Orienteering Australia, this means building on our participation programs while placing greater emphasis on strengthening the capacity of clubs.
Volunteers are at the heart of orienteering and will be central to this next stage. Supporting clubs to attract, develop and retain volunteers will be critical to creating sustainable opportunities for participation in communities across Australia.
Play Well is also encouraging organisations to think beyond traditional participation models and consider how sport can better meet changing community needs and expectations.
Orienteering Australia thanks the Australian Sports Commission for its leadership and financial support in developing Play Well and supporting participation initiatives across our sport.
As Play Well moves into its next phase, OA looks forward to continuing to work with the ASC, our state and territory associations, clubs and the wider orienteering community to help ensure that everyone has a place in orienteering.
For more information, visit the Play Well website and explore Orienteering Australia’s Participation webpage to learn more about our participation programs and initiatives.
