5 MAR 2024 · This episode of our podcast On Side talks to Play the Aussie Way campaign ambassadors, NBL legend Cal Bruton, Ellie Cole, Australia’s most decorated female Paralympian, and young soccer player Harry about the culture shift they hope to lead. While Playing the Aussie Way means something slightly different to each of them, there are common themes – respect, inclusion, fun and trying your best. Sixteen-year-old Harry says his enjoyment of sport changed when he took the result out of the equation. “Last year was the first year I tried just playing for fun and I really felt more connected to the sport and felt more like I wanted to play each week and like I wanted to go to training,” he says. “So I think that's the better way to approach the game.” Basketball coaches are renowned for histrionics, with Cal even admitting he was at the wrong end of the whistle once. The NBL Hall of Famer, who still has to deal with racism in sport, says “it's always the challenge”. “I try to live my life to be the best possible person I can be and be a mentor and a leader for all young disadvantaged youth that are looking for an opportunity to be on the right track and grow and sport is a just a tremendous vehicle for that.” And, while there are still challenges when it comes to racism and discrimination, sport has come a long way. Ellie says this really hit her at the Tokyo closing ceremony. “I was wrapping up my entire 17-year Paralympic career and I was surrounded by people who have chosen to be the best version of themselves despite what has happened to them,” she says. “That's exactly what Play the Aussie Way is about. It's about everyone having access to an opportunity like what I had.” Find out more information at https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/ Follow our socials: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SportIntegrityAus X: https://twitter.com/ProtectingSport Instagram: https://instagram.com/sportintegrityaus?igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12 DEC 2023 · Hosted by Tim Gavel, in this week’s program we explore life after sport and how hard it is for athletes to find their niche. We talk to AFL forward Josh Bruce, who retired near the end of the AFL season, 3-time Olympic gold medallist, swimmer, Petria Thomas, and Ben Hardy, an Olympian and former captain of the Australian national volleyball team. Find out more information at https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/ Follow our socials: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SportIntegrityAus X: https://twitter.com/ProtectingSport Instagram: https://instagram.com/sportintegrityaus?igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg== Produced by Ryan Micallefhttps://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

31 AUG 2023 · Former Matilda Michelle Heyman is featured in the latest episode of our podcast On Side. Michelle played for Australia 61 times between 2010-2018, booting 20 goals before a series of injuries forced her to retire from international duties in 2019. When Cortnee Vine’s penalty kick hit the back of the net against France, the whole of Australia roared as one. The recognition and support was a long time coming, says the former Australian striker. “This is something that I think every single Matilda or every single female athlete has wanted for such a long time, she says. “To see something so special like our World Cup, to see those numbers, to see the amount of people in the stands on home soil is incredible. We've pushed for this. We've tried to sell our brand for a very long time.” She says the support the team received from other sporting teams – men and women - was incredible. “Seeing the Boomers with all their jerseys on and changing the time of their game just so they could watch the girls, that's something special.” The W-League all-time record goal-scorer also talks about the Matildas' inspiring run to the semis, the growth of female sport and what keeps driving her on the pitch.See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

6 JUL 2023 · The latest episode of our podcast On Side explores the evolution of Paralympic sport in Australia. It also discusses the need to include Paralympic voices in the decision making, along with the role Paralympic sport can play as a vehicle for greater social inclusion and to understanding disability. It features Paralympians: Ella Sabljak, an Australian wheelchair basketball and rugby player, and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Council and Sport Integrity Australia’s Athlete Advisory Group, and Richard Nicholson, a two-time Paralympic silver medallist and part of Sport Integrity Australia’s Sports Partnerships team. What began as a simple “rallying of the troops” as a team captain has led to multiple roles as an advocate for athletes for Ella, including as a member of Paralympics Australia’s Athlete Commission. “I’ve always fought for the underdog and love helping athletes have their own voice,” she says. “You don’t really realise that athletes’ voices aren’t heard. It’s not until you’re sitting back at home after the fact and you really wish you could have made an impact or you’re seeing things differently, so I think that reflection piece as an athlete moving forward has really shaped how I carry myself and how I approach situations now.” Her appointment on the WADA Athlete Council is testament to her efforts in standing up for athletes, however she urges us all to be a “champion of change, so no one is left behind”. She also discusses the Paralympic classification system, doping in Paralympic sport, discrimination and the need for education. Richard, a two-time Paralympic medallist across two sports, discusses the evolution of Paralympics and disability sport in Australia. When he first began competing in disability sports he says he “didn’t know where” he fitted in among a “confusing” number of competing agencies. He says his first Paralympics experience in Atlanta was disappointing, in terms of the experience and his results. “Like all athletes, I was excited to get inside the village and when we arrived there was a swarm of tradies tearing down various events and various things inside the village and dismantling it and I thought ‘what’s going on here, we haven’t even started yet?’ The Paralympics in 1996 were literally saved by a philanthropic donation … or those Games would have been cancelled all together.” However, there was one incident at the Sydney Paralympic Games that changed his feelings about sport and his role within it. While he on his way to watch an event he came across a young boy with his mum, who asked her: “I wonder what sport that man plays?” The Games was a “watershed moment” for disability sport in Australia, he adds. “That’s when I started looking at the bigger picture and how I could be involved in changing that for the better.”See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

31 MAY 2023 · The latest episode of our podcast On Side looks at the issue of safeguarding participants of sport. It discusses the findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study and what it means for sport, and the work done as a result of Sport Integrity Australia’s review of the Western Australian Institute of Sport’s Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Program. The interview features: Professor Daryl Higgins Director, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University Kait McNamara Director, Child Safeguarding, Department of Local Sport and Cultural Industries (Western Australia) Emma Gardner A/g Director Safeguarding, Sport Integrity Australia. Professor Higgins revealed the findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study which showed 62% of Australians had experienced 1 or more types of maltreatment. Concerningly, maltreatment is chronic, not isolated, according to the study, with 2 in 5 experiencing maltreatment. “We're just scratching the surface,” he said.  “We know that many forms of abuse and neglect are more prevalent for women compared to men and … looked at changes over time, gender differences, age cohort differences and that's really the power of a study as comprehensive as ours is.” He said the response to the study was positive. “We're already seeing that in terms of different sectors saying how valuable the data is to them, both in terms of prevention, knowing how extensive it is and therefore what are some of the drivers that we need to be addressing in our community, but also in terms of responses. “We know now that one of the really significant drivers of the scourge that we have in Australia of mental ill health is childhood experiences of abuse and neglect.” McNamara said the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse showed there was no type of institution that escaped this type of abuse and harm of children. However, that the response from sport is crucial. “It’s crucial for them being just aware of who can support them if something does happen at their club, who do they need to contact in the police, who do they need to contact … So I think it's around not putting our heads in the sand and making sure we just accept the fact these things could happen. “We prevent them where we can, but if they do occur, how do we support that young person in a very, very critical moment because that can really shape how they then move forward from their journey.” The key risk areas identified by the Royal Commission – such as transporting children and overnight stays – are still the same key increased risk areas that Sport Integrity Australia was seeing, according to Gardner, from Sport Integrity Australia. “Overwhelmingly the largest proportion of complaints [Sport Integrity Australia receives] involve children,” she said. Those complaints snowballed after the release of the documentary Athlete A, but “gymnastics is not an island”, she said.See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

7 MAR 2023 · Former Olympic sprinter Patrick Johnson has joined Sport Integrity Australia as a Safety and Culture Advisor to ensure our responses are appropriate and informed. In this edition of On Side, Patrick talks about his role in helping to develop an agency and a sporting landscape that is culturally capable, respectful and engaging. “I think there's a shift to understanding sport as a vehicle for health, for education, to awareness, but also know what it means around reconciliation,” he says. “And I think that there's a sense of the next nine years until Brisbane 2032 that we want to ensure that all Australians are part of the Olympic Games and part of sport and that's probably a bigger picture that we've looked at.” He says the shift is even more important with the 2032 Olympics on the horizon. “You can see the shift around real respect, real acknowledgment and real understanding. There has to be a pathway regardless of where you live in this country. If you want to be a great sports person then let's make sure you have the opportunity ... It should be not just for the rich, it should be for every single person in this country to aspire, believe and could be part of.” He says the great thing about many athletes is that they are driving the change themselves because they see Australia and sport as diverse and multicultural. “But how do we ensure that it's for everyone? And I think the great thing that we've got in Australia, there's a real movement within athletes in this country that are really the game changers.” Best known for being the only Australian man to smash the 10-second barrier for the 100m, Patrick also discusses his career path, the importance of language, the role of the media, and his hopes for the future of sport. We also talk to former Australian Diamond captain and world champion Caitlin Bassett who, too, has recently taken up a role at Sport Integrity Australia as an Athlete Educator. Education has come a long way since she began her career, she says. “The information that I was getting at the start of my career and the information I was getting at the end was vastly different,” she says. “I was always learning every time we came together to do an education session, whether it being around drugs and sport, whether it be around integrity issues, around wagering and betting in sport and things like that, it was always something new and something learning because sport was evolving at such a rapid rate.” For many years the poster girl for Australian netball, she says the profile also came at a price, particularly when social media came along. “By opening up your life and sharing your life to them “[fans] is a great way, I guess, to bring them along on the ride with you,” she says, “but you are also opening yourself up to the negative side and that is obviously abuse and some of the unkind comments that come along with it.” Those comments were not only from “fans” ready to critique her performance, but from disgruntled gamblers, she says.See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

28 NOV 2022 · In the latest episode of our podcast On Side, esteemed lawyers Richard Young and Adair Donaldson provide incredible insights into their roles, including on anti-doping and abuse cases.

31 OCT 2022 · Guests: Dr Sian Clancy, Alexis Cooper, Kelsa Ferguson, Cassie Fien and Nick Paterson In this episode of On Side we discuss the dangers of supplements and the importance of education in anti-doping to prevent inadvertent doping due to supplements.

27 SEP 2022 · On this episode we sit down with the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency Witold Bańka, as well as WADA's Athlete Committee Chair Ben Sanford and 4 x Olympian and Integrity Manager for boxing, judo and taekwondo Bronwen Knox.

16 AUG 2022 · In this episode of On Side, our host Tim Gavel talks to some of Sport Integrity Australia’s science and medicine experts - Chief Science Officer Dr Naomi Speers, Science Officer Rima Chakrabarty and Medical Advisor Dr Laura Lallenec.