Setting a plan of action

Let’s find out what plan of action was set by Griffith University and partners to endeavour to level the playing field for athletes in the Oceania region.

Background of the GAPS Programme

The GAPS Programme was created out of a partnership that originated with the University Internship Programme (eqUIP). This is an initiative of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) which is run in partnership with education centres in the six continental regions of the Commonwealth.

In many developing countries of the Commonwealth, eqUIP provides funding for student placements aimed at assisting local Commonwealth Games Associations (CGA’s) in:

• strengthening organisational capacity
• developing plans which will improve team management
• delivering world-class teams to the Games

View details of one of the internship programmes here.

Creating the GAPS Programme

In 2015, CGA’s in the Oceania region identified that “high-performance sport” (ie performance preparation and high-performance coaching) rather than organisational capacity, was the most obvious deficit in their sports associations. Therefore, a new concept for Oceania eqUIP was developed in the lead up to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

An Oceania high-performance sports programme, named the GAPS Programme, was developed by CGF Development Director, Richard de Groen, and representatives from Griffith University including, Associate Professor Clare Minahan and Mr Duncan Free OAM.