The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is Australia’s premiere sports training institute and is a division of the Australian Sports Commission.
Outstanding athlete results combined with skilled coaches, world-class facilities and cutting-edge sports science and sports medicine services have given the AIS its international reputation as a world’s best practice model for high performance athlete development.
The Institute offers 35 sport programs in 26 sports, with a varying number of scholarships offered annually to Australia’s finest sportsmen and sportswomen.
The AIS is a national institution, with its main headquarters in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. AIS programs are also based around the country, including Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
AIS athletes in certain sports also train overseas at bases in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
AIS Football (Soccer)
Football was one of the eight founding sports of the AIS. The program was established in 1981 with two broad aims - to identify and develop players for the national under-20 youth team and to develop coaches through the Scholarship Coaching scheme.
With the advent of the National Youth League this has been adjusted and players are usually 16 (turning 17) years of age when they begin their scholarship now.
AIS Rugby League
The AIS Rugby League Program is jointly funded by both the AIS and the Australian Rugby League. It aims to provide a rugby league education to regional and rural elite rugby league players in Years 11 and 12 in order to bridge the gap in learning opportunities that currently exists between country and city-based elite players.
AIS Cricket
The AIS Cricket Program is conducted by Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence. The AIS scholarship athletes are selected by the national selection panel. Athletes are selected based on the most talented cricketers that are likely to succeed in international cricket in the short, medium and long term; this provides the program with an athlete mix including youth and first class experience. The AIS scholarship program enables the national selectors to create a five to ten year succession plan for the Australian team addressing identified future areas of weakness. The program runs for twenty weeks from April – September and includes a training program addressing technical, tactical, mental and physical areas in addition to two competition phases, namely the emerging player’s tournament and an international tour.
AIS Australian Rules Football
The AIS Australian Rules Football program was set up in 1997 to provide high quality training and education to footballers at the elite junior level. Through a partnership with the Australian Football League (AFL), scholarship holders are part of the AIS/AFL Academy and are able to stay in their home state or territory, training at Intensive Training Centres that are overseen by the AIS/AFL High Performance Coach. The program, which is administered from its headquarters at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, aims at preparing scholarship holders for drafting to senior AFL clubs.
