That’s why it’s crucial to develop not only the skills of athletes, but also the practitioners who work alongside them such as physiotherapists, dieticians, physiologists, sports scientists, and more.

The Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) Practitioner Development Program has been designed to support the team behind the athlete and coach, providing personal and professional development opportunities to fast-track careers by equipping Performance Support staff early in their career or new to High Performance (HP) sport with knowledge and tools to become world-class practitioners.

The 15 practitioners from across the country who are taking part in the program’s third year recently met at the AIS in Canberra to take part in their first in-person workshop.

Carlee Van Dyk, a Sport and Exercise Physician working with Rowing Australia, says the program is perfect to help her with the next step in her career.

“I’m at a really exciting time where I’m looking towards going from being a team physician to taking on jobs like the Chief Medical Officer,” Van Dyk said.

“With that, comes a lot more responsibility and skills beyond just delivering medicine. We’ve had some amazing sessions on effective collaboration, understanding how you think, feel, and react in certain situations and how you might change that using techniques such as asking questions that are less confrontational or less likely to make the other person defensive.

“Those targeted tools we’ve been provided are incredibly useful for those kinds of conversations.”

The six-month course combines individual and group learning activities covering topics such as personal strengths, communication, decision-making, career planning, and wellbeing.