What is High Performance ?

National Sporting Organisations such as Equestrian Australia are central to Australia’s High Performance system and are responsible for delivering high-performance sport programs. They create environments that support coaches, athletes and teams to perform at their best for national and international competition. In addition, they nurture and identify Australia’s next generation of athletes, providing the right support at the right time to ensure Australia continues to achieve international sporting success.

Equestrian Australia’s High Performance Program is funded by the Australian Sports Commission through the Australian Institute of Sport, and directly and/or indirectly by the Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Paralympic Committee.

The Australian Institute of Sport is the sole funder and investment body into Equestrian High Performance. It is important to note that no EA membership funds contribute to the EA High Performance Program.

All of these bodies are aligned to the AIS “Australia’s Winning Edge” (AWE) strategy designed for Olympic High Performance outcomes.

The aims of the AWE strategy are as follows:

• consistent and sustainable success for Australian athletes and teams on the world stage
• greater levels of accountability for performance results
• improved governance structures and contemporary reporting and monitoring of performance
• engaging, uniting, inspiring and motivating all Australians

AUSTRALIA’S WINNING EDGE STATES THAT:

Investments will be prioritised to sports that demonstrate the greatest chance of short, medium and long-term success. Decisions will be based on credible evidence that takes into account recent performances and future potential, along with understanding the systems that will drive performance outcomes.

The following priorities, agreed through the Policy Framework, focus on what is needed to achieve Australia's Winning Edge:

• Investing for success: Investment is targeted to achieve the greatest chance of international success.
• Planning to perform: Planning and review processes are contemporary and provide for elevated accountability across the sector.
• The right support: high-performance athletes have the right support at the right time along their pathway to international success.
• Good governance and capability: high-performance sports and sector partners have the structure, workforce and leadership capacity to develop successful programs to achieve competitive results and to spend taxpayer funding effectively.
• Evidence-based decisions: high-performance sports and sector partners have a valid and robust evidence base on which to develop winning high performance programs.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE IN EQUESTRIAN?

The key focus is currently on Olympic and Paralympic medal success in both the short and long term.

To achieve this success, the focus is further narrowed to the disciplines of Eventing and Para-Equestrian to achieve two medals (preferably Gold) at Tokyo 2020 and beyond:

• Current Cycle Planning for Tokyo 2020
• Future Cycle Planning for Los Angeles 2024 and Paris 2028

EA have a stringent process in place in order to ensure they are tracking to meet these goals, which includes detailed Individual Performance Plans for squad athletes that are regularly reviewed for accountability in line with the above AWE priorities.

EA HIGH-PERFORMANCE PLAN STRATEGY

Philosophy

Performance Driven and Combination Focused led by World Class Management

Vision

Sustained international podium success

Mission Statement

Optimal performance by Australian combinations and management at international benchmark events, achieved through optimum practice and cutting-edge high-performance planning and delivery.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

EA = Equestrian Australia

HP = High Performance

AOC = Australian Olympic Committee

APC = Australian Paralympic Committee

AIS = Australian Institute of Sport

ASC = Australian Sports Commission

HPP = High Performance Panel

HPD = High Performance Director

IPP = Individual Performance Plan

SIS/SAS = State Institute of Sports/State Academies of Sport

SSSM = Sport Science Sport Medicine

NSO = National Sporting Organisation

COMBINATION = A horse and their specific rider