WAIS Netball Services Program

The Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) informed netball athletes on Tuesday 10 September 2024 that from 31 December 2024, the WAIS netball services program will be discontinued.

Existing scholarship holders who have been recently categorised by Netball Australia will remain in the program through to 30 April 2025, after the U19 Nationals.

This difficult decision was made after the four-yearly review of WAIS’s strategic priorities, informed by the Australian Sports Commission’s High Performance 2032+ Strategy and a principle to prioritise Olympic and Paralympic sports.

Since the WAIS program commenced in 1985, Netball has developed dramatically as a sport. It is now distinct from other WAIS sports, with the launch of the professional Suncorp Super Netball league in 2017 and with Netball WA having responsibility for all high-performance player development programs, including the West Coast Fever Academy.

This decision reflects the need for WAIS to sustainably pursue international sporting goals by prioritising WA’s future Olympic and Paralympic success.

WAIS values its partnership with Netball WA and Netball Australia and will continue working with the sport to ensure athletes are supported through the strong Netball WA talent development pathway.

Comments attributed to WAIS Chief Executive Officer, Matt Fulton:

“WAIS has had a longstanding, valued partnership with Netball WA and Netball Australia, and the decision to discontinue the services program was not made lightly.

“WAIS is funded to support the high-performance sporting system and as Netball is not included in the Olympic or Paralympic Games format, the difficult decision has been made to discontinue the WAIS netball services program.

“Netball has developed exponentially as a sport since the program started at WAIS almost four decades ago and continues to move towards a fully professional era.

“With Netball WA managing all player development programs since 2017 and all WAIS athletes already part of the West Coast Fever Academy program, I am confident emerging and developing netball athletes will continue to receive the holistic high-performance support they need to realise their potential.”

All media enquiries can be directed to communications@wais.org.au