Doing Sport Differently

Let’s make sport for everyone

We all want to make sport and being active more accessible and fun for all Victorians.

Not everyone wants to join a competitive sport team and commit to a rigid weekly schedule of matches and training sessions.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to offering options for our community to be active sports participants. And how people are active has changed.

But we know that being active makes you feel good.

VicHealth has a vision for a vibrant future, where everyone can be active in a way that suits them.

Together, we can find ways to improve options for our community who aren’t involved in sport. To have options for everyone.

We’ve collected resources and real stories from across the state to inspire you to grow and rethink how you can offer sport for people living in Victoria.

To get started check out our guide for sports clubs available to download here.

What is Doing Sport Differently?

Doing Sport Differently is a collection of resources and research to help sport and activity providers offer inclusive and relevant opportunities for more people living in Victoria. This will increase a sport’s reach and sustainability.

How people play and participate in sport has changed. A variety of factors like age, interest, geography also mean that we need to look at new opportunities for our community.

The new opportunities developed through these initiatives include:

social sport programs that make activities fun, social and local

programs for beginners
programs specifically designed for under-represented groups (e.g. women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people who are LGBTIQ, people with disability or newly arrived Victorians)
programs designed to retain participants
cater to people who are returning to sport following a gap.

These programs emphasise fun, social interaction and enjoyment more than performance, results and competition.

SailPass

To find out more, visit VicSport.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Doing Sport Differently Principles View more

VicHealth and La Trobe University’s Centre for Sport and Social Impact developed six key principles to guide our Doing Sport Differently principles. These support organisations to design and deliver their programs for people living in Victoria.

The six principles are designed to support organisations through the four phases of implementing a new social sport participation opportunity or adapting an existing one.

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What is 'social sport'? View more

Social sport is less structured than traditional sport. It has fewer rules and more flexibility, both in how the sport is played and how you can participate it in. However, social sport is more structured than active recreation activities.

For example:

Traditional sport	Social sport	Active recreation
Soccer: Requires 11 people per team, train once a week, compete once a week, games last 90 minutes.	GO Soccer Mums: A women-only soccer program all about having fun and learning basic football skills in a social, judgement-free environment.	Friends or family visit a local park with a soccer ball and kick between each other.

Social sport can be designed and delivered by an organisation (e.g. Regional Sporting Assembly), sport club, local council, Regional Sport Assembly or other individuals and groups. Social sport places a greater emphasis on fun, social interaction and enjoyment than on performance, results and competition.

Who are ‘less active’ people’? View more

We all want to make sport and being active more accessible and fun for all Victorians.

However, we also encourage organisations to use the Doing Sport Differently principles to make their sport more enjoyable and more welcoming for ‘less active’ people.

‘Less active’ people are those who don’t meet Australian physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines, with respect to minutes of cardiovascular activity per week.

We refer ‘less active’ people as”

Adults over 18 years old who do less than 30 minutes of physical activity, at least 5 days a week.
Children under 18 years old who haven’t participated in organised sport (outside school) in the past 3 months.

There are a huge number of reasons why people might be less active. Lifestyle changes could mean that they have recently dropped out of sport or are doing less. Some people may not like traditional sport or may have had bad experiences in the past.

We also know that people from particular target populations (e.g. from low socioeconomic areas, with disability, women, culturally and linguistically diverse, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, LGBTIQ) may face particular barriers that prevent them from being active.