Better sporting experiences.
Making sports even better.
Helping Victorian sport understand, design and deliver experiences that make people want to start, stay and contribute.
Sport is about more than participation. It's about what people experience when they're involved.
The welcome they receive. The friendships they make. The challenges they enjoy. The confidence they develop. The opportunities they have to contribute and belong.
These experiences matter.
The Sporting Experience is a VicSport initiative bringing together evidence, research, ideas, practical tools and capability-building opportunities to help sporting organisations better understand and improve the experiences they provide.
Our ambition is to help make Victoria the best place to be involved in sport. And we believe an important place to start, and keep coming back to, is the sporting experience.
Why sporting experiences matter
We often measure sport through participation numbers, memberships, registrations and programs.
But how well do we understand what people actually experience?
Two people can participate in the same sport, at the same club, during the same season and have very different experiences.
One might feel welcomed, supported and part of something special. Another might feel overlooked, frustrated or uncertain about whether they belong.
The difference matters.
Our sporting experiences are shaped by the people, relationships, environments, activities and everyday interactions we encounter.
From the first registration to the final game of the season, there are countless moments that influence how people feel about sport - and whether they want to come back.
Latest from The Sporting Experience
Evidence, stories and practical ideas
Follow the October–December 2026 campaign as we explore what makes better sporting experiences - and how organisations can develop the capability to deliver them.
Better Sporting Experiences. Making Better Even Sport.
Why experience quality matters and why we're bringing evidence, practical resources and improvement opportunities together.
Articles will be linked as they are published.
On now! Improving experiences in practice
Future Sport Lab 01 - Participant Experience
Understanding the problem is one thing. Developing the capability to improve it is another.
Future Sport Labs help sporting organisations work on real challenges through structured learning, practical design and testing.
The Participant Experience Lab invites organisations to focus on a specific participation challenge, understand the experiences contributing to it and develop practical improvements.
The goal is not simply to generate ideas. It's to help organisations take action, learn what works and build their capability to keep improving.
Explore Future Sport Lab 01 — Future Sport Lab 01 — Participant Experience | VicSport
Just released: A Victorian Sport Experience Guide
A practical guide to making sporting experiences better
What does a better sporting experience look like - and how can organisations create one?
The Victorian Sport Experience Guide brings together experience principles, everyday moments, practical guidance and improvement approaches to help organisations design and deliver better sporting experiences.
Developed as a guide, not a rulebook, it aims to support sporting organisations, clubs and practitioners in making better decisions about the experiences they provide.
Pick a moment, and make it better!
Future resources will include practical applications for clubs and specific participant groups.
The Sporting Experience ecosystem
From understanding experiences to making them better
Better sporting experiences don't happen by accident.
They are shaped by what we understand, what we prioritise, how we design and deliver sport, and what we learn along the way.
The Sporting Experience connects evidence, investigations, practical guidance, capability development and shared learning through five stages.
01 — UNDERSTAND
What are people experiencing?
Develop a clearer understanding of sporting experiences through research, evidence and listening to the people involved.
Explore:
The State of Sport 2026 - Evidence about the state of Victorian sport, including experience-related findings and capability opportunities.
Explore the 'State of Sport' - State of Sport Report - Vicsport
What the 'State of Sport' told us
VicSport's State of Victorian Sport & Recreation Report 2026 provides an important evidence base for understanding the sector's strengths, challenges and opportunities.
Its findings highlight the importance of sporting experience quality, and identified opportunities for organisations to strengthen how they understand and measure the experiences they provide.
The opportunity now is to become more deliberate about understanding and improving the experiences that influence it.
Explore the State of Sport 2026 Report - State of Sport Report - Vicsport
Sport Experience evaluation - An emerging approach to measuring experience quality and understanding its relationship with sporting involvement.
Contact andrewo@vicsport.com.au to discuss further.
Sport experience research - Research and insights into the experiences, motivations, relationships and conditions that influence participation and contribution.
PASI — Physical Activity and Sport Insights
PASI is an Australian sport and physical activity research group led by Professor Rochelle Eime, providing evidence about participation trends, retention, motivations and barriers. Its research helps sporting organisations better understand who participates, why people continue or leave, and where opportunities exist to improve participation experiences.
02 — EXPLORE
What's really happening, and why?
Look more closely at the experiences people have, the challenges they encounter and the moments that influence their decisions.
Explore:
Sport Experience Immersions - Opportunities to experience sport from the perspective of participants and volunteers, observe moments that matter and reflect on possible improvements. You can explore existing immersion content, with future opportunities coming soon.
Explore The Influence of Experiences — Sport Experiences - Vicsport
Future Sport Forums - keep an eye out for further sector conversations showcasing applied research, case studies, sharing practitioner perspectives and practical ideas.
03 — DESIGN
What could a better experience look like?
Discover ways to design sporting experiences that are more welcoming, enjoyable, meaningful, supportive and rewarding.
Explore:
Victorian Sport Experience Guide - Developing principles and guidance for creating and delivering better sporting experiences.
We will also be sharing a club sport experience playbook as a practical guidance for improving everyday experiences in community clubs, and cohort specific resources for guidance on understanding and improving target audiences sporting experiences.
Doing Sport Differently
Developed by VicHealth and La Trobe University's Centre for Sport and Social Impact, Doing Sport Differently provides six principles to help sporting organisations design and deliver engaging, accessible and flexible participation opportunities, particularly for people who are less active.
VicSport has previously partnered with VicHealth and La Trobe University to help sporting organisations explore and apply these principles, including through practical resources and learning activities focused on participant and club experiences.
Explore Doing Sport Differently resources
04 — IMPROVE
How can we put better experiences into practice?
Turn ideas and insights into changes that make a meaningful difference for the people involved in sport.
Explore:
Future Sport Labs - Facilitated, challenge-based capability development that helps sporting organisations understand real challenges, design solutions and test improvements.
Future Sport Labs — Building the capability to make sport better | VicSport
Participant Experience Lab - The first Lab focuses on helping sporting organisations better understand and improve a specific participant experience challenge.
Future Sport Lab 01 — Participant Experience | VicSport
Guiding Sport - VicSport also supply organisational support to connect evidence, stakeholder experiences, priorities, strategy and practical improvement.
Participation innovation - Connected opportunities to explore, develop and test approaches that can improve participation experiences, including the VicHealth × VicSport Participation Innovation project.
Contact Andrew O'Loughlin for more information and to support the project.
andrewo@vicsport.com.au
05 — LEARN & SHARE
What's working, and what can we learn?
Improvement doesn't stop when a new approach is introduced.
Understanding what changes, listening to people's experiences and sharing practical learning helps organisations continue to improve.
Explore:
Evaluation and measurement - Approaches to understanding whether experience improvements are making a difference.
Stories from sport - Organisational examples, case studies and lessons from experience improvement initiatives.
Sport Experience Community of Practice - A new opportunity for practitioners to connect, share challenges, learn from one another and develop their capability over time.
As this ecosystem grows, we'll share what organisations are learning and how their experiences can help others.
Featured: The Influence of Experiences
Walk in their shoes. See sport differently.
Sport leaders often know their sport well. But do they know how it feels to the people involved?
The Sport Experience Immersion in partnerhsip with VicHealth invited sector leaders to experience sport from the perspective of participants and volunteers, and notice the everyday moments that can be easy to overlook. Through reflection and practical questions, The Influence of Experiences explores the small interactions that shape how people feel about sport.
The arrival. The welcome. The instructions. The relationships. The support. The invitation to return.
Watch The Influence of Experiences
Pick one moment. Make it better.
Featured: The Teenage Sporting Experience
Why Teenagers Leave Sport - and What Makes Them Stay
Why do some teenagers continue playing organised sport, while others change sports, pause or leave?
What happens in their sporting experiences that makes the difference?
Our current Participation Innovation project with VicHealth is exploring what sport feels like to teenagers, what they value, the factors influencing their decisions and what sporting organisations might do differently.
It will combine research, young people's perspectives, practitioner insights and practical opportunities to improve.
Rather than assuming there is one reason teenagers leave sport, we want to understand the different experiences that shape their involvement.
More to come.
If your interesting in supporting this project to get more teenagers involved in sport, for longer, please contact andrewo@vicsport.com.au to discuss some more.
Practical resources for better sporting experiences
Ideas, tools and guidance to help you take action
Understanding the importance of sporting experience quality is a useful starting point.
But how do we put that understanding into practice?
The Sporting Experience Ecosystem brings together practical resources to help sporting organisations move from awareness to action.
Where could you start?
Pick one moment. Make it better.
Improving sporting experiences doesn't always require a new program, a new strategy or a major investment.
Sometimes it starts by looking at one moment differently.
Think about your sport, club or organisation.
What is one moment that influences how someone experiences your sport?
It might be the first email. Registration. The welcome. The coach. The competition. The support offered to volunteers. The way people are recognised or thanked.
Ask yourself:
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What is this moment like for the person experiencing it?
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What's working well?
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Where might people feel confused, excluded, unsupported or frustrated?
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What could we change to make it better?
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How would we know if the change worked?
Start with one moment. Listen to the people experiencing it. Make one improvement. Learn from what happens.
That's one way we can start making sport better.
Learn from others. Improve together.
The Sporting Experience will continue through Future Sport Forums, organisational learning and a developing Sport Experience Community of Practice.
Following the Participant Experience Lab's final session in December, we'll bring practitioners together to share their actions, challenges, emerging outcomes and lessons.
Further information about these opportunities will be published as arrangements are confirmed.
Pick one moment. Make it better.
Improving sporting experiences doesn't always require a new program, major investment or complete redesign.
It can start with one moment — a welcome, an instruction, a conversation, a competition, a thank you, or an invitation to return.
Choose one moment. Listen to the people experiencing it. Make one improvement. Learn what happens.
To discuss your sporting experiences, please contact Andrew O'Loughlin andrew0@vicsport.com.au
The Sporting Experience is a VicSport-led initiative. New resources and opportunities will be added as they become available.
Acknowledgements
VicSport sector capability activities are supported by Sport and Recreation Victoria. The Participation Innovation project is undertaken in partnership with VicHealth - and we thank them both for their ongoing support of our sector.