Published 20 August 2021
AMMNA President Andrew Simons today launched the Stake In The Game Project, which will use world-class methodologies to build an innovative four year game plan that will aim to make the twenty-twenties the decade our sport finds its way to mainstream. The project will deliver two key outputs, the first being a response paper to Netball Australia's State of the Game review which AMMNA are a partner to, and the second being a refresh of our expiring strategy.
AMMNA president Andrew Simons believes the strategy refresh is set to deliver an exciting direction that leverages current momentum for our sport in the broader context of Netball’s priorities.
“The timing could not be more perfect. Our retiring strategy that built so much depth in our programs has afforded us the opportunity to go bigger and bolder. The pandemic is making every sporting body change its product and programming anyway. And most excitingly, our strategy build will overlap with Netball Australia’s very own state of the game review, and the recently endorsed World Netball Olympics inclusion campaign”, Simons said.
The project is being led by former Australian coach and player Heath Brown, the lead for Strategy and Game Development on the AMMNA executive. He will be supported by a extended project team of review advisors and member participants currently being formed. The extended executive will also drive the recommendations put forward through this process, and member bodies will be engaged to make the end strategy responsive to the needs in the pathway.
“We launched the strategy with member states this week, and will keep our fans and participants in the loop via our social media pages. The key focus of the project is to build a strategy that reflects the wants and needs of partners, participants and the sport. So everyone in our network will have a chance to contribute”. Simons said.
Project lead Heath Brown said the opportunities for our sport have never been clearer or brighter.
“The State of the Game Review provides a very clear blue print for any netball entity in Australia to connect with the future of netball in this country. The need for boys and men’s category growth is plastered across the recommendations from the commission. This intent in itself is history-making for us, and the responsibility sits with us to articulate to NA how we can bring the recos around inclusion and diversity to life in partnership. We are certainly not short of ideas and will be publishing these in our first output of this project – that being the Stake in the Game Review.” Brown said.
When asked about how AMMNA would navigate the several competing priorities on the agenda for Netball Australia to make boys and men’s a priority, Brown highlighted the need for us to be presenting value for the sport.
“We are acutely aware that we are only one stakeholder addressing some parts of the future of netball, and the focus has to continue to be on empowering women of this great sport. For us it’s about how men and boys can play our part in securing the future of netball, and how diversity and inclusion drives the empowerment agenda. Most of our ideas already have activity and product to leverage given the great work of both AMMNA and NA member body collaborations around the states. It’s about uplifting their profile, looking for innovations and scaling opportunities.” Brown said.
AMMNA expects to launch the first output of the project (the response paper to the State of the Game review) in coming weeks.
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