Performance Services


ACTAS provides the best possible performance, health and wellbeing programs to prepare athletes for the world stage.

ACTAS Athlete Wellbeing & Engagement (AW&E) services provide support to assist athletes in finding their right balance between life activities, training and competition and the requirements of elite sport. With a focus on increasing their overall wellbeing and supporting their developing careers.

Through providing guidance, support, resources and educational opportunities athletes are encouraged to continue to learn, develop and grow both on and off the sporting field.

Services include well-being, personal development, career and education, lifestyle management, community engagement and sport transition support.

Useful Information

ACTAS works collaboratively with partnered National Sporting Organisations to deliver AW&E services to its supported athletes in line with the AIS National Program.

Sport Psychology helps athletes, coaches, and teams to perform at their best, train well, and manage their mental health.

ACTAS Sport Psychologists help athletes harness their thoughts and emotions to reach their potential. To understand pressure and how to perform. To understand themselves and the challenges that life throws up.

Just like the physical and technical skills, mental skills need to be learned and practiced. Sport psychology can include things like attention, performance anxiety, perfectionism, coping with injury, performing under pressure, team dynamics, life outside sport, and transitions.

ACTAS Sport Psychologists work with athletes, coaches and teams in individual and group settings, in the sporting environment and in an office.

ACTAS’ Sport Psychologists are registered and have extensive experience working with athletes from developmental to elite levels.

Please note – Sport Psychology is not available to the public.

Athletic Performance

ACTAS Athletic Performance, also known as Strength and Conditioning, work as part of a high-performance support service team providing physical development services that target performance outcomes for the chosen athlete in their sport. Programs are designed for a number of training environments with a focus on individual athlete needs. Long term development of the athlete physically is the approach taken by the Athletic Performance coaches in addressing the athlete’s pathway. These approaches are underpinned by the following guiding philosophies:

  1. Individualised programming and planning, targeting performance outcomes in the athletes chosen sport.
  2. A long-term physical development approach working with the athletes coach and sport demands.
  3. Integration with other support staff service professionals to maximise the performance outcomes and address the athlete holistically not just athletically.
  4. Utilise the latest in sport science research in program design.
  5. An open and challenging team environment that enhances coaching and performance outcomes.

All training sessions are overseen by an Athletic Performance Coach, university qualified and licenced through the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA), committed to delivering high performance programs.

Core athletic performance capabilities that are addressed in the role are:

  1. Movement skills assessment and correction
  2. Injury management, prevention and rehabilitation
  3. Coach Foundation resistance training skills and progressions to develop strength and power
  4. Conduct physiological performance testing in conjunction with the ACTAS Sport Scientist
  5. Develop and progress conditioning modalities such an aerobic endurance, speed and agility
  6. Build the athletes/team/squad training plan in conjunction with the sports coaching staff
  7. Assist in in sports science research to maintain the scientific approach to attain positive performance outcomes.

Performance Science

ACTAS Performance Science is a key member of the ACTAS athletic support services. Their task is to use the latest in Sport Science research and technology to advise and help plan training programs, athlete monitoring tools and improved athletic capability testing around planned performance outcomes. ACTAS has a number of sports that require very different approaches and the Sport Scientist leads the process in obtaining the best expert knowledge to assist coaches, athletes and support staff to deliver evidence-based programs.

The work tasks they perform include athlete testing in both a field and laboratory environment using national and individually developed protocols. Reporting to and engaging with coaching staff at both state and national level is a key action seeing ACTAS engage the national sporting system.

The Sport Scientist also manages research development involving ACTAS athletes in conjunction with leading universities and researches both domestically and internationally.

ACTAS is an Accredited Elite Athlete Testing Centre having successfully conformed to the requirements of the National Sport Science Quality Assurance Program.

Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy

ACTAS Sports Medicine and Sports Physiotherapy is partnered with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and is tasked with providing ACTAS athletes in all sports with specific services on the management of injury and illness.

The Sports Doctor and Physiotherapist work with the Sport Science and Sports Medicine team, which includes coaching staff and other ACTAS support services to rehabilitate the injured athlete and provide critical training and competition advice along the rehabilitation pathway. Additional support can be provided to teams during travel and major competitions, sourcing external professional advice and act as a resource to athletes, their families and ACTAS coaches and staff.

ACTAS provides nutrition servicing to improve the performance, training capabilities, and optimise the general health of athletes*. Our nutrition providers are specially trained to be able to offer both health and sports-specific nutrition advice being dually qualified as Accredited Practising Dietitians and Accredited Sports Dietitians.

ACTAS' Sports Dietitians utilise a range of service delivery modes including individual consultations, group education and workshops, food service support and physique assessment to empower athletes to execute evidence-based nutrition practices. ACTAS’ Sports Dietitians work across a wide range of topics with athletes including exercise fuelling and recovery practices, addressing nutrient deficiencies, injury management, illness prevention, travel considerations and supplement advice.

ACTAS’ Athletes are treated as individuals and receive tailored nutrition advice specific to their training and competition demands but can also receive services in group settings specific to their team or sporting needs. ACTAS Dietitians also extend support to coaching staff and athlete support personnel to increase knowledge and awareness of the impact of sports nutrition.

*Please note - Performance Nutrition is only available to ACTAS Scholarship Athletes and is not available to the public.

Useful Information

Resources

ACT Academy of Sport

Phone: (02) 6207 4388 (+61 International)

Australian Institute of Sport (Building 20), Leverrier St, Bruce ACT 2617 | Po Box 176 Bruce ACT 2616