From the Centres Br J Sports Med: first published as 10.1136/bjsm.23.2.72 on 1 June 1989. Downloaded from Australian Institute of Sport, * 0

Sport is an integral part of 's Board's main responsibility is the * For the purpose of fostering co-op- heritage. When declining fortunes development of policy initiatives. eration in sport between Australia through the 1960s reached a crisis at the and other countries, to provide ac- 1976 Montreal Olympics where no gold cess to persons from other coun- medal was won, it became evident that Objectives of the AIS tries to the resources, services and other countries were placing a far facilities of the Institute. higher priority on sport. The objectives set out in the Australian Concern at the country's sporting Institute of Sport Act 1986 are: decline had earlier led to two Federal * To provide resources, services and Government commissioned reports, facilities to enable to Facilities in 1973, and Coles in by Bloomfield pursue and achieve excellence in The Institute is at Bruce, ten minutes 1975. Their common recommendation, sport while also furthering their from Canberra's central business dis- drawing on overseas models, was to educational and vocational skills trict on a 65 hectare site which includes establish a national sports institute to and other aspects of their personal both the national indoor and outdoor further the development of elite development work prior to the Insti- and coaches. This would stadia. Capital athletes * To improve the sporting abilities of to for tute's foundation amounted $A77m. remedy the lack of opportunities Australians generally through the The operating budget in 1987/8 was to and train in Australian athletes live improvement of the standard of $A15.2m. Income is raised from gov- their own country with full sport and sports coaches ernment grants, commercial charges coaching support rather than to have to * To foster cooperation in sport for facility use and corporate sponsor- go abroad to develop their talents. between Australia and other coun- ship. In 1980, the Federal Government tries through the provision of The facilities include an outdoor of an announced the establishment access to resources, services and stadium and warm-up track, indoor Institute of Sport at the National Sports facilities related to sport. stadium, swimming , tennis com- Centre in Canberra. It was hoped that it plex, halls for gymnastics, basketball would provide: and and general training * Top quality training and coaching facilities, in addition to the Sports Sci- * World Class facilities, including The functions of the Institute are: ence and Medicine Centre, administra- http://bjsm.bmj.com/ sports science and medicine sup- tion centre and halls of residence. port * To devise and implement pro- grammes for the recognition and Details of these facilities are as follows: * Domestic and overseas travel to top National Outdoor Stadium completed in competitions development of persons who excel, or who have 1977. Fully equipped 18,000 seat * Educational opportunities for the potential to excel, in sport stadium with electronic scoreboard; academic study and career employ- Rekortan all-weather track; hosted ment. and persons who have achieved, or athletics World Cup in 1985.

was intended to be on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. The Institute who have the potential to Warm-up track 1985. Fully equipped. not simply a performance-oriented, achieve, standards of excellence National Indoor Stadium 1980. Multi- tertiary educational establishment. purpose 5 200-seater indoor arena with Officially opened by the Prime Minister as sports coaches, umpires, referees or officials to the con- wide use from tennis competitions, on 1981, it was initially , duct of sport Torvill and Dean ice skating, opera and run as a public company with a board * manage, develop and rock concerts. of management under the chairman- To establish, maintain facilities for the purposes Swimming hall 1984. Includes 50 metre ship of the former Olympic runner, pool (2.2m.deep) and a 25 metre train- Kevan Gosper, with the swimming of the Institute * To provide sports medicine ser- ing pool, 1.lm.deep, plus conditioning as foundation Execu- coach Don Talbot vices and sports science services to room, spa and sauna. Open to public tive Director. in pro- outside AIS training hours. In 1987, Federal legislation altered persons participating grammes referred to above and to Tennis complex 1982. With four indoor the Institute's status to that of a statut- undertake research related to and six outdoor courts, all with of a ory authority, with appointment sports medicine and sports science Plexipave surface suitable for round- management board by the Federal * To collect and distribute informa- the-clock play. Open to public outside Minister of Arts, Sport, the Environ- AIS training times. The tion, and provide advice on matters ment, Tourism and . related to the activities of the insti- Gymnastics hall 1984. A multi-purpose tute comprehensive gymnastics training *From information kindly supplied by John * To raise money for the purposes of facility. Purnell, Australian Institute of Sport, PO the Institute by appropriate means, Sports training facilities 1984. Incorpor- Box 176, , Act 2616 having regard to the proper per- ates outdoor (grass and Poligrass) and formance of the other functions of indoor (Poligrass) pitches. Other (C 1989 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd 0306-3674/89/020072-04 $03.00 the Institute and facilities include weight-lifting centre,

72 Br. J. Sp. Med., Vol. 23, No. 2 From the Centres f. .-... Br J Sports Med: first published as 10.1136/bjsm.23.2.72 on 1 June 1989. Downloaded from

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Views of the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, showing from top left to bottom right: aerial view, gymnastic pit, main entrance, biomechanics running track and weights room. Br. J. Sp. Med., Vol. 23, No. 2 73 From the Centres conditioning room, spa and a fully- equipped 360-seat theatre. Basketball and netball hall. Comprises

three indoor basketball and two netball Br J Sports Med: first published as 10.1136/bjsm.23.2.72 on 1 June 1989. Downloaded from courts. Sports Science and Medicine Centre 1985. Adminiistration centre and halls of resi- dence completed in 1985.

Residential scholarships Athletes, who must be gainfully employed or bona fide students, may be awarded scholarships comprising full board and lodging, sup- port and sports clothing. They may receive annual education allowances of $A250 (secondary students) or $A850 (tertiary students). Athletes' Institutes programmes include inter-state and overseas com- petition and they receive full adminis- trative and technical support, including sports science and medicine.

AIS sports There are now sixteen fully resident sports, ten at AIS Canberra, six out- posted AIS Units as follows (in addi- tion to provision for canoeing on the Gold Coast of Queen'sland). In , the AIS hockey unit is grant-aided by the Western , whose Department of Sport and Recreation provides free office accommodation. Sport psychol- ogy and physiology support is pro- vided by the University of WA's Human Movement

Studies Depart- http://bjsm.bmj.com/ ment. The Council provides offices for the squash and diving unit at the Sleeman Sports Complex at Chandler and the training venue for squash at the QE2 Sports Complex. In , the South Australian government Department of Recreation and Sport support the and on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. cycling units.

The Sports Science and Medicine Centre Comprehensive sports science and medicine programmes are now an integral part of the preparation of inter- national standard athletes and are normally available throughout train- ing, competition and touring. Until re- cently, Australia neglected this vital back-up service and to overcome this deficiency, the AIS established a Sports Science and Medicine Centre compar- able with the best in the world. The Sports Science Unit includes physiology, psychology and technical support groups. It helps coaches by providing continuous assessment of Some of the facilities at Canberra; from top: indoor soccer hall, the National their athletes' physiological, psycho- Indoor Stadium and the gymnastics hall.

74 Br. J. Sp. Med., Vol. 23, No. 2 JIM!!. 5-1-M P,- i,ii.Rm ra-- i, logical and biomechanical characteris- All, tics and gives help with performance enhancement. The Sports Medicine Unit, consisting Br J Sports Med: first published as 10.1136/bjsm.23.2.72 on 1 June 1989. Downloaded from of two doctors, physiotherapists, mas- GENERATION seurs and a nursing sister, not only treats injuries and illness but devises and implements injury prevention SPORT SUPPORT programmes for individual athletes and sports. The Units are committed to dis- seminating their knowledge to the broader Australian scientific and ath- letic community through conferences, courses and the production of a quarterly journal 'EXCEL', now avail- able on subscription and funded by the Sir Foundation. The Centre's educational work in- cludes the training of final year physiotherapy students from the Cum- berland College of Health Science, , and students of biophysics/in- strumental science from the Swinburne Institute of Technology. Graduate stu- dents work on projects in physiology, psychology and biomechanics. The Sport Science and Medicine Unit moved in 1985 into new spacious ac- commodation in the centre of the AIS complex which incorporates the best design features from similar complexes round the world and allows more test- ing, research and teaching. Current activities include the following: * A sports medicine clinic includes a small three-bed casualty area, nurse's station and medical con- sulting rooms. * The open-plan physiotherapy area has 16 treatment couches, rehabili- http://bjsm.bmj.com/ tation and exercise equipment, a 'wet area' for ice and water treat- ment, a massage area and a hyd- rotherapy pool. * The physiologylbiochemistry section endeavours to identify and quan- tify the physiological, biochemical and nutritional characteristics con- on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. tributing to sport-specific energy generation. An ever-growing range of testing equipment is available to 1 Helps prevent & treat injuries monitor performance, most re- Superb All-Round Compression Support cently an environmental chamber was added to help athletes with Retains Body Heat for better blood flow acclimatization. Comfortable, Strong and Washable * The sport psychology programme aims to equip athletes with coping J0 S SIZES AVAILABLE skills for competition stresses. There are consulting rooms with Diamond Sport Supports are made from thermocel audiovisual facilities and a labora- neoprene and help to prevent injuries such as pulled tory with flotation tanks and muscles and strained tendons, and their benefits are biofeedback equipment. * The biomechanics lab analyses widely recognised by physiotherapists everywhere. technique with computer analysis Available fromgoodsportshopsorforfurtherinformation of high-speed film fed through a contact digitizer. Force-plates and photo- electric timers are used in accelera- tion and velocity studies. * Technical support services include an on-site workshop and computer section.