• Coaches Should Be Role Models: Opportunity and responsibility for having a long-term impact, Michael W. Austin, Psychology Today, (1 November 2017). A recent study concluded that coaches have more impact on the lives of young athletes than parents, teachers, peers, school, and religion. I'm a little skeptical about this claim, but it is beyond dispute that coaches have a significant influence on the young athletes that they coach.
• Be A Role Model. The Impact of The Coach On Junior Athletes, Christopher Paish, Medium, (26 April 2017). Athletic coaches have an impact on junior athletes that stretches far beyond teaching the fundamentals of technique.
• 4 steps to becoming a role model coach. Jim Grove, Active for Life, (15 September 2016). When you become a community coach for kids, you become a role model. Part Don Cherry, part Dalai Lama. You may believe that you are simply coaching to develop young athletes, but you are also shaping the attitudes and beliefs of the citizens of tomorrow.
• Here’s to coaches, unsung heroes and role models for social change, Andrew Bennie, Director Health and Physical Education, Western Sydney University and Nicholas Apoifis, Lecturer Politics and International Relations, UNSW, The Conversation (22 August 2016). Coaches are often viewed as positive role models and mentors for their players, working behind the scenes to bring teams to victory, supporting them in their defeat and sharing in the joy of participating. Good coaching goes beyond physical skills training; it involves the development of life skills, confidence, resilience and social participation.

• Where are the Moms? Strategies to Recruit Female Youth-Sport Coaches. Keidrich K. Strategies, Volume 33(5), pp.12-17, (Sep/Oct 2020). There are numerous benefits to sport participation among children and adolescents and coaches play a significant role in getting youth, especially girls, involved in sports and continuing participation in sports. Despite the advances of girls and women in sport participation since Title IX, the majority of youth sport coaches are men. Female coaches can be important role models for all youth in sport. The purpose of this article is to describe the benefits of having female coaches and potential strategies to encourage more women to coach.
• Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs of Youth Sports Coaches Regarding Sport Volume Recommendations and Sport Specialization. Post EG, Trigsted SM, Schaefer DA, et al. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Volume 34(10), pp.2911-2919, (2020). Overuse injuries in youth athletes are becoming increasingly common, which may be a result of the prevalence of year-round specialized sport participation. Previous research has identified sport volume recommendations related to months per year, hours per week, and simultaneous participation in multiple sports leagues. Coaches are a primary influence on a youth athlete's decision to specialize in a single sport. Therefore, identifying coaches' baseline beliefs and perceptions is important for developing strategies to educate coaches about safe sport participation.
• The impact of coaching on participants, Hopkinson M, Sports Coach UK, (2014). This report presents the findings from the first year of a four-year study of the impact of coaching (and coaches) upon sports participation. The current results provide evidence to support the belief that quality coaching can help bring people into sport, enhance their enjoyment, and increase how often they play and the likelihood of them staying involved. Key results from the survey identify how important quality coaching is. The report suggests that both adults and young people will have more positive playing experiences the higher the quality of their coach. The survey aimed to gather views from both people who are coached in their chosen sport, and those who play but do not receive coaching.
• Role models, sporting success and participation: a review of sports coaching's ancillary roles. Lyle, John, International Journal of Coaching Science, Volume 7(2), pp.25-40, (2013). Appropriate role models such as coaches are essential elements in a high quality sporting environment: these will contribute, along with many other factors, to the perception of sport as an attractive, attainable and rewarding experience. This review suggests that coaches should emphasise qualities of determination, hard work, coping and moral behaviour. However, coaches should also take care when using other athletes as inspirational examples or models of appropriate behaviour, and bear in mind their own status as role models to younger impressionable athletes.

• Athletes won’t stay silent on politics anymore. But will leagues support their protests if it costs them real money? Keith Rathbone, Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University, The Conversation, (28 August 2020). This week, the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court in protest over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, Jacob Blake, who remains paralysed in hospital.
• Patty Mills and Addin Fonua-Blake show power and pitfalls of the athlete's voice, Caden Helmers, Canberra Times, (11 July 2020). Patty Mills is working tirelessly to drive campaigns for equality with his entire NBA salary set to go towards social justice movements.
• Patty Mills launches 'Team Mills Foundation' to help people in need, Chris Dutton, Canberra Times, (27 May 2020). NBA championship-winner Patty Mills says he wants to bring "long-lasting improvement" to people's lives after launching a foundation to support women and underprivileged families, culture, diversity and enact change in the environment.
• Athletes as Role Models, JD Bergman, Paul Fuller, Ohio State University, (28 January 2019). While athletes are naturally put under a microscope and up on a pedestal by the culture, that doesn’t guarantee an athlete’s behavior is worthy of being a role model. It just guarantees that you have the opportunity to be one.
• Sit on hands or take a stand: why athletes have always been political players. Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney, The Conversation, (16 January 2017). Sport is variously part of government policy, international relations, commercial interests, integrity issues, gender dynamics, and so on. Sport has never been, and never will be, a cocoon within which wider societal issues are unrelated.
• Paralympian role models: media hype, political rhetoric or the real deal? Louise McCuaig, Senior Lecturer Health and Physical Education in Schools, University of Queensland, The Conversation, (16 September 2016). In my profession of health, sport and physical education, you hear the term “role model” bandied around often. Sports stars, physical education teachers and coaches – along with Olympic athletes – all attract equal amounts of praise and criticism regarding their status as role models to young Australians.
• Australian Paralympic Team: our most-loved representatives, Greg Blood, The Roar, (21 June 2016). So what values are Australians looking for in their national teams so that they are ‘loved’ and be the ‘most loved’? These values may include striving to win but not at any cost, inclusiveness, selflessness, good behaviour, teamwork, loyalty and national pride.
• Ian Thorpe says not all champions can be role models, Reuters, ABC News, (21 June 2016). Although Olympic champions can make great role models, sports officials can't expect all athletes to be angels in their pursuit of results, according to Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe.
• Champion netballers join the Rethink Role Models campaign, Daily Telegraph, (2 June 2016). Anyone can gain celebrity in the social media age and become a role model for young, impressionable people. That doesn’t mean they’ll make good ones. That’s where a new strategy comes in to play.
• Athletes of influence? The role model refrain in sport, Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney, The Conversation, (18 December 2015). It has become a truism that professional athletes, whether they like it or not, “are” role models for others. Talented sportspeople hardly win every time, and sometimes they do not exemplify fair play. But many athletes convey attributes about performance, character and resilience that draw admiration from fans.
• To be or not to be: sports role models, Lesley Parker, UTS Business School, (21 May 2015). The pressure on elite athletes to never slip up, on or off the field, is an inevitable – but in some ways regrettable – aspect of commercialisation, a breakfast seminar on role models in sport, hosted by UTS Business School, has heard.
• Are Athletes Good Role Models? Frank Smoll, Psychology Today, (20 April 2015). What are the qualities that make an athlete a good role model?
• Morals clauses in player contracts 'too broad', Lesley Parker, UTS Business School, (23 February 2015). Contracts covering professional athletes' personal behaviour are too broad, potentially breaching their rights as individuals and as employees, three academics argue in a newly published paper.
• Why are athletes alone held to higher standards?, Paul Jonson, op-ed, The Drum, (24 February 2015). Professional athletes are required to meet standards of personal behaviour that are both higher than other professions and less precisely evaluated. This is neither fair nor reasonable, writes Paul Jonson.
• Sports star endorsement works a treat on junk food packaging, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, (28 May 2013). A study undertaken by the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer (CBRC) at Cancer Council Victoria surveyed 1,300 children around 11 years of age and found that young boys were most influenced by celebrity endorsements from male athletes. The likelihood of boys choosing an unhealthy food was 65 per cent higher when it featured a sports celebrity endorsement.

• Case Study: Measuring the impact of the FA player appearances programme 2015-2016, Women in Sport, (2017). This report looks at the impact of elite sport stars on girls. The Football Association (FA) runs an established ambassador programme, enabling female football players to share their stories and inspire at a local level, with female players visiting schools and community groups for a number of years. Key findings reported are that player appearances provide a really positive experience for girls in school and community settings. Additionally, the four key impacts reported were: Re-enthusing and validating girls’ participation in football; Actively and meaningfully getting across positive life lessons; Inspiring girls to believe they can achieve in football; Driving interest in the women’s elite game.

• Lead by Example: An Exploration of the Athlete Brand as a Role Model, Olzhas Taniyev and Brian S. Gordon, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Volume 31(1), pp.62-75, (March 2022). The central aim of this exploratory study was to uncover the traits of the athlete brand as a role model from the perspective of the sport consumer. Thirty-one consumers of the athlete brand were purposefully selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. The interview data revealed four prevalent themes including personal attributes, community impact, idealized parental figure, and exemplar for other athletes.
• ‘You feel a need to inspire and be active on these sites otherwise . . . people won’t remember your name’: Elite female athletes and the need to maintain ‘appropriate distance’ in navigating online gendered space, Molly Pocock, Michael Skey, New Media and Society, (January 2022). Although some scholars have argued that social media provide opportunities for sportswomen to bypass mainstream media reporting, there is little existing research on how female athletes use, and experience, digital platforms. Drawing on interviews with UK-based elite sportswomen, the findings not only show how distance is carefully managed to protect themselves from negative comments and over-exposure online, but also the significance of building connections with young female followers. Indeed, the athletes prize their status as ‘role models’ and seek to provide ongoing support and a sense of community in what is often an antagonistic online space.
• Athletes as role models during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ho Keat Leng and Yi Xian Philip Phua, Managing Sport and Leisure, Volume 27(1-2), pp.163-167, (2022). Athletes are considered potential role models for young adults even though some of them exhibit inappropriate behaviours. In this commentary, the paper begins with a description of inappropriate behaviours of some athletes during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this age of social media, news of such inappropriate behaviour can spread very quickly, particularly when the behaviour evokes an emotive response. However, social media can also be leveraged to spread positive messages. During this pandemic, athletes like other celebrities can be role models. They can encourage appropriate behaviours including social distancing to stem the spread of the virus through social media. The paper ends with a short discussion on the future of athletes as role models during a pandemic.
• Star athlete ambassadors of sport for development and peace, Mariann Bardocz-Bencsik, Marko Begović, Tamás Dóczi, Celebrity Studies, Volume 12(3), pp.407-422, (2021). It is not uncommon for star athletes to be involved in sport for development and peace (SDP) initiatives as role models, be it a long-term ambassadorship or a short-term commitment. As the SDP sector has been continuously growing in the past two decades, scientific interest in the field has developed as well. Nonetheless, there are still gaps in the literature regarding high-profile athlete endorsed SDP initiatives. This article explores high-profile athletes’ involvement in SDP, and its purpose is to identify the characteristics these athletes need to have in order to be successful as ambassadors in SDP. Nine semi-structured interviews with SDP practitioners on athlete-ambassadorship are analysed, through the lens of Goodman and Barnes’ ‘development celebrity’ and ‘star/poverty space’ concepts. The responses from the interviews revealed that celebrities used in SDP programmes need to be popular not only on a global level, but specifically in the local context, among the beneficiaries as well. These ambassadors and mentors need to understand SDP in order to be authentic contributors to the programmes. Credibility is essential, but also fragile as the media attention, which is so valuable for promotion purposes, can backfire in the case of any scandals.
• Bad Faith, Bad Behaviour, and Role Models. Howe LA. Journal of Applied Philosophy, Volume 37(5), pp.764-780., (November 2020). This article argues that athletes should neither be taken as role models nor present themselves as such. Indeed, they should resist any attempt to take them as such on the grounds that seeing athletes (or other celebrities) as role models abrogates the existential and ethical responsibilities of both parties. Whether one takes on the role of being a model to others or whether one chooses to model one’s own behaviour on that of another, except in respect of the development of technical skill, one engages in bad faith and fails to act in an existentially ethical way.
• Determinants of public perception of elite sport. Hallmann K, Rossi L, Breuer C, et.al., International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. Volume 12(3), pp.439-453, (July 2020). Elite sports are associated with values such as fair competition, striving to become better and challenging oneself. These are considered as social benefits. However, integrity issues relating to misuse of doping or corruption challenge this. This paper examines the determinants of public perception of elite sport by means of a survey. Logistic regression modelling assesses the effects of trust, athletes as role models, perceived costs and benefits on public perception of elite sports. The results reveal that perceived benefits have a positive effect on all public perception measures whereas perceived costs, trust in key actors of the elite sport system and viewing athletes as role models have only an effect on selected perception measures.
• Ambassadors of the game: do famous athletes have special obligations to act virtuously? Yorke, Christopher C., Archer, Alfred. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport; Volume 47(2), pp.301-317, (May 2020). Do famous athletes have special obligations to act virtuously? A number of philosophers have investigated this question by examining whether famous athletes are subject to special role model obligations. In this paper, we will take a different approach and give a positive response to this question by arguing for the position that sport and gaming celebrities are ‘ambassadors of the game’: moral agents whose vocations as rule-followers have unique implications for their non-lusory lives. According to this idea, the actions of a game’s players and other stakeholders – especially the actions of its stars – directly affect the value of the game itself, a fact which generates additional moral reasons to behave in a virtuous manner.
• The rise of an athlete brand: factors influencing the social media following of athletes. Su Y, Baker BJ, Doyle, JP, et.al., Sport Marketing Quarterly, Volume 29, pp.33-46, (2020). Athlete brands exist within a network of brand relationship. Thus, considering the joint influences of related brands at different levels (league, team, and athlete) is essential for understanding how athlete brands are built. We focus on growth factors impacting athletes’ social media followings (Twitter and Instagram) around the critical juncture of team transfer periods. Through comparing a large sample of athlete social media followings before and after the draft, we identify immediate changes as athletes start t heir professional careers.
• “She is where I’d want to be in my career”: Youth athletes’ role models and their implications for career and identity construction, Noora J. Ronkainen, Tatiana V. Ryba, Harri Selänne, Psychology of Sport and Exercise , Volume 45, (November 2019). Finnish youth athletes are inspired by athlete role models whose lives are not completely constituted by performance narratives of elite sport. From an applied perspective, role models could be incorporated into career counselling with athletes to support identity development and exploration of future selves.
• Athletes as heroes and role models: an ancient model, Heather Reid, Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Volume 11(1), pp.40-51, (2017). In this essay the author constructs an argument for the social and educational value of sport built upon the relationship between athletes, heroes, and the song culture that celebrated them in ancient Greece. On this model, athletes are neither heroes nor role models in the conventional sense. Rather, athletes, athletics, and the poets who extolled them were part of a cultural conspiracy to celebrate and inspire virtue (aretē) by connecting a community with its heroic past. In this way, athletes, athletics, and the media that celebrated them played important social and educational roles. Insofar as modern sport performs a similar service, its association with heroism and with moral education may ultimately be justified.
• The inspirational effect of sporting achievements and potential role models in football: a gender-specific analysis. Wicker, P., Frick, B. Managing Sport & Leisure, Volume 21(5), pp.265-282, (December 2016). This study examines the trickle-down effect of potential role models and sporting achievements, respectively. Specifically, it examined the inspirational effect of same-sex and opposite-sex role models on male and female participation in German amateur football. Longitudinal data on German football club memberships and amateur teams were collected for 21 regional football associations over a 15-year-period. The results found that sporting success does not automatically lead to the development of positive role models and inspirational effects.
• Elite footballers as role models: promoting young women’s football participation, Dunn, C. Soccer and Society, Volume 17(6), pp.843-856, (2016). Sportspeople are constantly urged to maintain the highest levels of conduct because of their position as ‘role models’ to children. This article reports from a study in progress which explores the experiences of elite female athletes in Britain, and focuses on qualitative interview responses of elite female footballers, all of whom were currently playing at top-flight domestic and international levels and took part in the 2012 Olympics. It explores what they perceive the position as ‘role model’ to mean, how it impinges on their sport performance, and how they work with gifted young footballers to promote sporting excellence as well as community cohesion through grass-roots outreach work. It discusses their thoughts on how role models are currently and can best be used to encourage young women’s football participation from elite down to grass-roots levels, and highlights the amount of responsibility they feel to do this.
• Role models in sports – Can success in professional sports increase the demand for amateur sport participation? Mutter, F., Pawlowskib, T. Sport Management Review, Volume 17(3), pp.324-336, (August 2014). This article examines whether the success of professional athletes can spill over on the demand for amateur sport participation. It reviews the empirical evidence of sporting role models and their motivational effect on sport participation. It finds the effects of professional sports on sport participation is not conclusive.
• Professional Athletes and their Duty to be Role Models. Lynch, S., Adair, D., Jonson, P. Achieving Ethical Excellence (research in Ethical Issues in Organizations ), pp.75 - 90, (2014). The chapter considers understandings of sport, play and athleticism from an ethical perspective and examines their relationship to professionalism to determine the extent to which ethical imperatives can logically be upheld or undermined within the professional context. The chapter calls for recognition of the complexity of ethical decision-making in the context of professional sport and recommends that the training of professional athletes should prepare them to deal with this complexity.
• The contractual and ethical duty for a professional athlete to be an exemplary role model: bringing the sport and sportsperson into unreasonable and unfair disrepute, Jonson, PT, Lynch, S and Adair,D., Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Journal, Volume 8(1), pp.55-88, (2013). Elite athletes are generally assigned as being a role model by virtue of moral clauses in their employment contracts. The authors argue that athlete contracts are often vague or broad regarding role model expectations. It recommends moral clauses in contracts should be reframed and athletes should be assisted in understanding and appreciating the nature of moral clauses. In addition, there should be public discussion on the designation and expectation of the athlete as a role model to ensure reasonableness and propriety of treatment for our athletes. The article utilises Australian cases and athlete contracts to discuss this issue.
• Australian athletes' health behaviours and perceptions of role modelling and marketing of unhealthy products. Grunseit A, MacNiven R, Orr R, et.al., Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Volume 23(1), pp.63-9, (2012). Most athletes surveyed supported a role for athletes in promoting physical activity and obesity prevention, and disagreed that athletes should promote unhealthy foods and alcohol (73.9%).
• Changing lives? Critical evaluation of a school-based athlete role model intervention, Kathleen Armour & Rebecca Duncombe, Sport, Education and Society, Volume 17(3), pp.381-403, (2012). This paper reports an evaluation of the changingLIVES ‘athlete mentor’ programme in the UK. This was a school-based programme using successful sports people to deliver a series of motivational activities to young people who were identified as being disengaged or disaffected in some way. Evaluation data suggested that although the teachers and young people did report an immediate positive reaction to the activities, there was limited evidence of a wider impact on young people's behaviour, school attendance or self-esteem. It is argued that there should be greater conceptual clarity and a stronger evidence base supporting the design and delivery of interventions in schools that seek to use sports people as role models (or mentors) for young people.
• The inspirational function of role models for sport participation and development. De Croock S, De Bosscher V, van Bottenburg M, European Association of Sport Management Congress 2012 Abstract Book, (2012). This research shows that only 10% of elite athletes have been inspired by other elite athletes in order to start with their current sport. Mostly they were encouraged by their parents (59%) and friends (28%) to practice their current sport.
• Sport Teams as Promoters of Pro-Environmental Behavior: An Empirical Study, Yuhei Inoue and Aubrey Kent, Journal of Sport Management, Volume 26(5), pp.417-432, (2012). The purpose of this study was to explain the process of how a sport team could induce consumers to engage in pro-environmental behavior. Building on Kelman’s (1958, 1961, 2006) internalization perspective, this study demonstrated that positive environmental practices by a team increased consumer internalization of the team’s values. In turn, this increased internalization mediated the relationship between environmental practices and pro-environmental behavior measured by two behavioral intentions: intention to support the team’s environmental initiative and intention to engage in pro-environmental behavior in daily life. The results of this study contribute to the literature by highlighting the significant role of internalization. This research further provides a significant insight into the social impacts of sport organizations.
• Why do governments invest in elite sport? A polemic, Grix J and Carmichael F, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, Volume 4(1), pp.73-90, (2012). This paper examines the reasons generally given by advanced capitalist countries for investing in elite sport. While the focus of this paper is on the United Kingdom’s sport policy, other capitalist nations are discussed, including Australia and Canada. The authors focus on the proposition put forward by these governments that, “elite sport success promotes participation among the population”. Given the nature of certain assumptions, the discussion around the link between elite sporting success and grassroots participation is often controversial and circular arguments ensue. Although significant research supports the link between sport participation and personal health and wellbeing; extending this logic to sport policy and population outcomes is problematic. The proposed rationale is termed the ‘double pyramid theory’ – that is, if a high percentage of the population participate in sport there are bound to be more Olympic champions; and conversely, the existence of champion role models encourages grassroots participation. The authors conclude that, based on evidence from existing research, this position cannot be substantiated.

• Let Kids Be Kids - the kids and sports icons. Play by the Rules, (2017). Sporting stars and kids talk about the impact of poor sideline behaviour on participation in sport with the simple message, Let Kids Be Kids
• Chloe Esposito helps mentor young modern pentathletes, Australian Sports Commission, YouTube, (26 February 2017)
• Stick With It: Laura Geitz, Australian Sports Commission, YouTube, (1 May 2016)
• Stick with it: Stephen Moore, Australian Sports Commission, YouTube, (1 May 2016)

• Engaging Parents in Sport, Clearinghouse for Sport topic, (accessed 29 June 2022).
• How can we use role models to help inspire our sporting children? Gordon MacLelland, Working with Parents in Sport, (17 May 2019). Role models can act as a tremendous source of inspiration for all individuals. None more so than for our children who look up to so many different people during their formative years, as they form their own personal identity and beliefs.
• Parents Making Youth Sports a Positive Experience: Role Models, Daniel Francis Perkins, PennState Extension, (20 October 2017). The atmosphere set by organizations, parents, and coaches is a major factor in determining whether or not youth will have a positive experience in a sports program. This bulletin is written to assist parents in fostering a positive climate that enables children and youth involved in sports to enjoy them-selves and reach their full potential. It focuses on the benefits and risks of youth sports, discusses parents as role models, and provides practical tips for parents.
• Australian kids need active, sporty parents, Factsheet, Australian Sports Commission AusPlay Survey, (2017). Research from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) shows active parents are more likely to have active kids.

• Relationship between mothers’ enjoyment and sedentary behavior and physical activity of mother–child dyads using a movement-to-music video program: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Tuominen PPA, Raitanen J, Husu P, et.al., BMC Public Health, Volume 20(1), (November 2020). Parental support and participation in physical activity (PA) with children and parents’ acting as a role model for less sedentary behaviors (SB) are critical factors for children’s healthier lifestyle. The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between mothers’ enjoyment and participants’ sedentary behavior (SB) and physical activity (PA) as a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) using data from Moving Sound RCT in the Pirkanmaa area of Finland.
• The continued importance of family sport culture for sport participation during the teenage years, Åse Strandbu, Anders Bakken, Kari Stefansen, Sport, Education and Society, Volume 25(8), pp.931-945, (2020). Growing up in a family with an affinity for sports increases the likelihood of participating in club-organised sports. Few studies to date have addressed whether the importance of family sport culture is stable or changes during the teenage years. This article examines the association between family sport culture and participation in club-organised sports during teenage years and whether it differs between boys and girls. We utilise data from Norway and the comprehensive ‘Young in Oslo 2015’ survey (N = 6121; 79% response rate; ages 13–18). Three questions were combined into a measure of family sport culture in the present study: the importance of sport in the family, parents’ training habits, and whether parents would like their children to participate in sports. We observed a clear positive relationship between family sport culture and participation in club-organised sports. Except for a slightly weakened relationship with age among girls, the relationship was equally strong in all age groups. We suggest that the overall continuity in the relevance of family sport culture for young people’s sport participation reflects a prolonged socialisation effect that we utilise Bourdieu’s theory of habitus to understand.
• Student responses to physically literate adult role models, G. Conlin, Science and Sports, Volume 29, Supplement, p.S17, (October 2014). The objective of this study was to identify who adolescents recognize as a physically active adult role model that might provide the motivation and added confidence needed to become physically literate themselves. Parents, family members, friends, coaches and physical education teachers were identified as active role models. There were fewer instances of coaches and physical education teachers as active role models than the others during all three phases. There were more instances of physical education teachers as an active role model after the active phase than the spectator phase or at baseline.

• Play. Sport. Australia. Sporting Heroes, Australian Sports Commission, YouTube, (2 November 2016)

Many current and former high profiles athletes are involved in community projects and foundations. Examples include:

• Cathy Freeman Foundation. Olympic athletics champion Cathy Freeman.
• Dylan Alcott Foundation. Paralympic basketball and tennis champion Dylan Alcott.
• Go Foundation. Indigenous Australian Football League (AFL) players Adam Goodes and Michael O'Loughlin.
• Indigenous Marathon Foundation. World marathon champion Rob de Castella.
• John Maclean Foundation. Paralympic athlete John Maclean.
• McGrath Foundation. Cricketer Glenn McGrath.
• Ponting Foundation. Cricketer Ricky Ponting.
• Ricky Stuart Foundation. Rugby league player Ricky Stuart.
• Sport Access Foundation. Para-triathlete Katie Kelly.
• Sporting Dreams. Paralympic swimmer Marayke Jonkers.
• Team Mills Foundation. NBA basketball champion Patty Mills.

List of charities established by Australian athletes (Wikipedia)

• Bachar Houli Academy. Program designed to provide opportunities and a pathway for young Muslim men aspiring to play AFL football.
• #DOMORE. #DoMore is a call to action for Australians wanting to be more informed, more educated, and more engaged in challenging racism. The #DoMore Project will use the stories of Australians of all backgrounds [including sporting role models] to challenge existing beliefs and raise awareness of the impact of racism. By understanding how we can all do more, we’ll help create an equal future for all Australians.
• Racism: It Stops with Me. This Australian Human Rights Commission and Play by the Rules initiative is a national campaign to raise awareness of racism in society and has used high profile sportsmen and women such as Adam Goodes to promote key messages through multiple media channels.
• Roosters Against Racism. Raises awareness of the importance of mutual respect and fair treatment of all people regardless of their cultural, racial or religious backgrounds. It will also promote the benefits of cultural diversity and social cohesion. The program is supported by the Australian Human Rights Commission, Play By The Rules, Community Migrant Resource Centre and Left-field Business Solutions. It involves a number of high profile players visiting local schools.
• We got you. The We Got You campaign is led by an all-star cast of Australia’s biggest sport identities and is a pledge by those athletes to stand in solidarity against racism and be the voice for change.

• Athlete Engagements. Elite Australian athletes provide a range of services, from guests at award ceremonies, school appearances through to motivational speaking.
• Gold Medal Alumni. An Australian Institute of Sport initiative. A group of Olympic champions, known as the Gold Medal Alumni, are showing their support to the next generation of athletes as part of the Gold Medal Ready program. Gold Medal Alumni are a part of the program to share their personal stories and knowledge, through experience, with other athletes.
• Mental fitness program. Current and former elite athletes engage with school-based communities to promote positive psychology strategies and improve wellbeing.

High profile indigenous athletes are used as role models by several Australian organisations and programs to promote positive health and lifestyle messages. Programs that utilise athletes include:

• Indigenous Marathon Foundation. The Indigenous Marathon Foundation (IMF) was established in 2009 by world marathon champion Rob de Castella. It is a health promotion charity that uses running to celebrate Indigenous resilience and achievement, and create inspirational Indigenous leaders.
• Racism: It Stops with Me. The national Australian Human Rights Commission and Play by the Rules campaign to raise awareness of racism in society has used high profile sportsmen and women such as Adam Goodes to promote key messages through multiple media channels.
• Red Dust. A health promotion organisation that delivers innovative health promotion programs in partnership with remote communities. The Red Dust Role Models come from a variety of disciplines, including sport, art and music, but are also recognised for their mentoring and teaching capabilities.
• Roosters Against Racism. Roosters Against Racism raises awareness of the importance of mutual respect and fair treatment of all people regardless of their cultural, racial, or religious backgrounds. It also promotes the benefits of cultural diversity and social cohesion. The program is supported by the Australian Human Rights Commission, Play By The Rules, Community Migrant Resource Centre and Left-field Business Solutions. It involves a number of high profile players visiting local schools.
• Share a Yarn. This initiative provides current and former Australian elite athletes with meaningful opportunities to connect with the Indigenous community, and learn more about the differing cultures, lands, history and people. The AIS will partner with organisations that are already delivering programs to youth in these communities, to open up channels for ongoing communication and learning between participants and athletes.
• Wirrpanda Foundation. Founded in 2005, by former West Coast Eagles player David Wirrpanda, The Foundation aims to lead the provision of education and employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. We influence and inspire the empowerment of our people through our diverse work force, which is led by our First Australian role models.

• Lifeline Community Custodians. Initiated in 2019, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and Lifeline partnered to deliver the Lifeline Community Custodian program. The community engagement program utilises athletes to help increase awareness around suicide prevention and encourage anyone who needs support to reach out and ask for help. Twenty-two elite athletes and para-athletes from a range of National Sporting Organisations and the National Institute Network have been selected as Lifeline Community Custodians in 2020. The athletes share their own personal stories and get involved in community events supported by Lifeline around the country.
  • Lifeline Community Custodians: One year snapshot, AIS/Lifeline, (May 2020). In 2019, 22 athletes (15 Olympic; 6 Paralympic), across thirteen sports participated in 31 events, 49 individual athlete engagements and a total of 36,115 attendees. The program assisted in raising AU$2.068M.

Community Custodian stories

• Holding on to Hope podcast with Erik Horrie, Lifeline, (5 May 2020). Life says athlete Eric Horrie is full of if onlys, if only his mum had chosen a different partner. If only he'd driven through that intersection two seconds later. If only the hospital hadn't confused him with another patient. But along with the bad decisions that have shaped his life, there have been good ones from the moment he fell in love with partner Michelle, to the night a Lifeline volunteer recognized Eric was in crisis.
• The phone call that saved Erik Horrie's life, Australian Institute of Sport media, (6 May 2020). Lifeline saved Erik Horrie. In its own, less dramatic, way, sport rescued him, too. YouTube video also available.

• iCare Paralympian Speakers Program. A partnership between the NSW Government and Paralympics Australia where Paralympians mentor young people seriously injured at work or on the road.
• Paralympic Speakers Program. Paralympics Australia run the Paralympic Speakers Program where athletes with disabilities can tell their stories to corporate and school groups.

• AIS Thrive with Pride Program. Provides an opportunity for athletes and coaches to connect, learn, and respectfully engage Australian sporting communities in fostering safe and inclusive environments for athletes to thrive in sport.
• You Can Play (national campaign). Play by the Rules developed a national campaign to tackle the issue of homophobia in sport that features a number of high profile Australian athletes including Harry Kewell (football), Allesandro Del Piero (football), Libby Trickett (swimming), Mitchell Johnson (cricket), Ryan Harris (cricket), Paul Gallen (rugby league), Nate Myles (rugby league), Lauren Jackson (basketball), Kimberlee Green (netball), Sam Mitchell (AFL), David Pocock (rugby union) and Nathan Jones (AFL).

• Women Sport Australia (WSA) Mentor Program. Mentoring is a proven and practical way to encourage the participation and advancement of women in the workforce. The creation of supportive ‘role-model’ based relationships allows a more experienced individual to guide, encourage and support the mentee as she strives to achieve identified aspirations and goals.

The Sport Australia Hall of Fame (SAHOF) recognises and promotes the outstanding sporting achievements of our sportspeople to preserve Australia’s rich sporting heritage. SAHOF Membership is divided into two categories:

• Athlete members - who have competed at the top level of competition available in their chosen sport.
• General members - selected for excellence and outstanding achievements in roles supportive to sports participants such as: administration, coaching/training, sports media/history, sports science/technology and sports umpiring, refereeing, judging, etc..

In 1993 the SAHOF introduced the 'Legends of Australian Sport' category for Members who have distinguished themselves at the absolute highest level and whose achievements are considered part of Australian folklore. A Member must be 15 years retired before being considered for elevation to the category. Currently (July 2022) 44 Members have been officially recognised as Legends.

In 1998 the SAHOF introduced the 'Don' Award, named after Sir Donald Bradman. The Award honours a current Australian athlete who, by their achievements and example over the previous 12 months, are considered to have had the capacity to most inspire the nation. Athletes can be awarded the 'Don Award' multiple times, and there may be more than one winner in a year.

Athletes that have won this award since 2009 include: Steve Hooker (Athletics); Lydia Lassila (Aerial skiing); Cadel Evans (Cycling), Sally Pearson (Athletics), Adam Scott (Golf), Michelle Payne (Horse racing); Jeff Horn (Boxing); Kurt Fearnley (Para-athletics); Ashleigh Barty (Tennis), Australian Women's Cricket Team (Cricket), Patty Mills (Basketball).