Jack Rayner and Sinead Diver among 36 emerging athletes to be offered National Athlete Support Structure membership

Athletics Australia (AA) has today extended the offer of National Athlete Support Structure (NASS) membership to 132 of the nation’s best athletes, including two of Australia’s greatest performing athletes of 2018 – Sinead Diver and Jack Rayner.

The 132 is broken up to 58 able-bodied and 38 para-athletes, with the remaining 36 being included in the Emerging Squad - a new membership structure that will focus on the post-secondary school athlete and their personal coaches. 

The NASS is a high performance system that provides support to individual athletes who have the potential to contribute to the goals of Sport Australia and AA’s high performance objectives.

“Congratulations to each of the athletes that will be offered membership to NASS. Athletics Australia and our partners across the state and territory institute and sport academy network look forward to working alongside you and your personal coaches,” Athletics Australia Head of High Performance Systems Andrew Faichney said.

“Our strategic objective as a business is for athletics to secure 20-24 Medals, at Para-athletics benchmark events and 1-3 Medals and 6-10 top 8 placings at able-bodied benchmark events – with these athletes, we believe we will succeed.”

Athletes supported by the NASS will be fully supported through the National Institute Network (NIN), they will also be assigned an Athlete Performance Advisor in the AA office, providing a clear line of communication between the national body, the athlete and their personal coach and support network.

Sport Australia were involved as an observer of the selections as a key partner of our Athletics Australia’s HP system.

Further details on what is included is outlined within the NASS Selection Policy here.

A complete list of able-bodied athletes offered membership can be viewed here.

A complete list of para-athletes offered membership can be viewed here.