Next generation of Olympic and Paralympic coaches graduate with flying colours

The initiative aims to transition graduates into full-time high-performance coaching roles in the lead up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in collaboration with the Queensland Academy of Sport's sports partners.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Gen2032 Track Cycling Scholarship Coach, Jordan Kerby, says the program has enabled him to identify and focus on emerging and developing athletes in their teenage years.

“For me it’s been really exciting to start that journey with them over the next eight years and hopefully get them to an Olympic Games and get some medals as well.”

“If I were able to coach at a home Olympic Games one day with kids that I’ve brought through and help develop myself, that would just be a swansong,” said Jordan Kerby.

The program offers aspiring high-performance coaches the opportunity to refine their skills in their respective sports through the exclusive, fast-tracked development program designed in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Sport.

The cohort’s graduation was held over two evenings where coaches shared their experiences and learnings from the program.

Gen2032 Wheelchair Rugby scholarship coach, Ben Newton, says one of the strengths of the program was the collaboration it provided with fellow scholarship coaches to share tips, help troubleshoot problems, and offer fresh perspectives.

“I came into this as a retired athlete. So meeting all these people who were more experienced as coaches, to me, was super valuable. Especially things like having challenging conversations with athletes as a great example. It’s been really helpful.”

Coaches were selected from a range of backgrounds varying from gold medallists, the military and non-sporting upbringings.

QAS General Manager, Troy Ayres, says the program has been so successful it is now being adopted nationally with over 50 coaches across the country graduating through the program.

“For us, the measure of success is how many coaches continue to move up the pathway. But these coaches also provide a significant amount of coaching resource in the pathway right now. For cohort two, it’s around 15,000 hours of high-performance coaching they have already delivered on top of all the learning they’ve done.”

The Gen2032 coaching program is a collaboration between the Queensland Academy of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport with the help of $2.5 million funding from the Queensland Government, and additional sponsorship from individual sporting bodies.

Find out more about the Gen2032 program, to become a scholarship coach, or to have your sport involved.

Cohort 2 of graduating Gen2032 coaches. Back: Dan McTainsh, Ji Wallace, Angie Lambert, Dylan Stevens, Jamie Petty, Ji McBryde. Front: Ben Newton, Sharnlene Kelly, Jordan Kerby.