Sport Australia’s Coaching and Officiating podcast includes conversations with some of Australia’s leading sport coaches, athletes and officials including former Australian captain Greg Chappell, Paralympic legend and coach Louise Sauvage, and former Olympic and seven-time WNBL championship-winning coach Carrie Graf.

Claire Polosak, the first female umpire to officiate in men’s Test cricket, former AFL ruckman and rugby union coach Mick Byrne, and Lauren Burns who won Australia’s first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, will also share their thoughts on coaching and officiating and unique aspects to their success.

The first episode features Sport Australia CEO Rob Dalton where he explains why we need to rethink our approach to recruiting, supporting and retaining coaches and officials in Australia.

"Sport has traditionally relied on the talent of individual coaches but we need to get some consistency in what we’re delivering so we can provide a great experience,” he said.

Sport Australia is transforming its coaching and officiating training model to focus on improving the experiences of coaches, officials, and participants.

“By getting everybody trained in a methodology that can be applied within each sport we’re going to get a better result and we’re going to keep more people playing which is what we’re about.”

“If we can get an outcome where sports are really developing their coaches then we’re going to get a better experience for players,” he added.

You can listen to the first episode with Mr Dalton or preview the series here. A new episode will be added each fortnight.

Sport Australia launched its podcast channel in September last year with a 10-part series on Sport Governance Principles aimed at helping Australia’s sporting leaders – many of them volunteers – face the challenges of COVID-19 and build a stronger sporting future through governance.

The Sport Australia Podcast is available across popular digital services including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify, as well as on the Sport Australia website.

Subscribe today to make sure you don’t miss an episode.