Sport Pathways Framework

Ensuring everyone has access to quality experiences in sport

Sport Pathways Framework

Ensuring everyone has access to quality experiences in sport

Sport for all, Sport for life

The Sport Pathways Framework ensures everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand can enjoy the benefits of sport for life. It has been developed by Sport NZ and High Performance Sport NZ in consultation with the sector to ensure the system works together to provide quality experiences for all New Zealanders by aligning people, programmes and environments.

How does it work?

The Sport Pathways Framework is built around four domains. These domains are about ensuring everyone can enjoy sport in safe, supportive and inspiring environments that match their motivations or aspirations.

Foundation	Social	Competitive	Performance
First sport experience, focusing on enjoyment, skill development and learning.	More flexible, less formal formats, focusing on enjoyment and playing sport with friends.	More structured, competitive formats and programmes, run at local, regional and national levels, focusing on participants and athletes who have drive, aspiration, and motivation to improve and reach their potential.	National and international competitions and programmes, focusing on the development and performance of nationally identified athletes who demonstrate the attributes, ambition and attitude to excel on the world stage.

Sport Pathways Framework illustration

Framework principles

The Framework is based on the following principles:

Quality sport	Quality, safe, and inclusive sport experiences are essential for all New Zealanders and lead to a healthier nation.
Collaboration	A sport system working together, with clarity of roles and responsibilities, will lead to better outcomes for all participants.
Hauora	Sport experiences must support all dimensions of people’s wellbeing, and these will look different depending on the individual participant’s motivations.
Individual flexibility	Participants develop at different rates. Age and stage considerations are especially important for competitive and performance athletes.
Participant-centred	Transitions in, out, and through sport are driven by the participant’s motivation, skills, ability, commitment, and desired outcomes from their sport experience.
Locally-led	Enabling and empowering local decision-making to support responsiveness for different sport motivations is encouraged.