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The Western Australian Government is investing $832,292 into the ‘True Sport’ initiative - a nation leading program delivered through SportWest - to support the sporting sector in creating safe and welcoming environments on and off field.

The True Sport best practice behaviour change program includes specific initiatives addressing sideline behaviour, child safeguarding and mental health and wellbeing, and offers free access to best-practice e-learning training, face-to-face workshops, eToolkits and resources.

True Sport is the realisation of over 18 months of review, consultation and industry feedback conducted by SportWest regarding the contemporary needs of sport delivery in Western Australia.

The program will be free of charge to sports administrators, coaches, volunteers, participants, officials as well as club and community representatives.

The Western Australian Government funding will enable the development of a new website that will become the central hub for all sporting organisations to access tools and resources to support the industry. It will also support an industry Employee Assistance Program to support administrators to deal with difficult and confronting situations, as well as a Volunteer Assistance Program that will respond to local sporting clubs facing critical incidents, providing counselling support on the ground when needed.

It is expected that the roll-out of the program will result in increased participation and retention of community sport participants, including volunteers, as well as increased integrity and management of child safeguarding across the sporting sector.

State sporting associations and their affiliated organisations will receive support to navigate the complicated and specialised areas of mental health, sideline behaviour and child safety.

WA Sport and Recreation Minister David Templeman noted "True Sport is about being your best, but it is also about fostering a culture of inclusion, support and positive mental health. There are currently more than 700,000 people participating in community sport every year in Western Australia.

"As we welcome more women, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with disabilities and other minority groups to our sporting groups, we also need to ensure that they are able to participate in a way that keeps them safe.

"This program will ensure that everyone involved in community sport has the training and resources to support participants."

SportWest is committed to leveraging the valuable knowledge and perspective of WA Sport administrators to ensure that True Sport continues to be developed for the industry, by the industry. The True Sport Advisory Group will guide future initiatives and provide advice from various perspectives of the sporting industry, ensuring relevance and shared outcomes.

Recognising the power of the industry working together, True Sport will align with the newly developed SPORT principles, creating a shared vision for sport in Western Australia.

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