The 2025 launch of the School Sport Professionals Mentor Program has been an outstanding success and a significant milestone in strengthening professional connections across the school sport sector. Participants embraced the program’s collaborative and member-led approach, with mentor–mentee partnerships developing productive professional relationships through regular conversations, idea sharing and reflective practice. The scheduled checkpoints throughout the year provided valuable support and accountability, ensuring participants remained engaged and gained maximum benefit from the experience.
Feedback from participants highlighted the program’s positive impact on professional confidence, networking opportunities, and knowledge sharing across different school sport association contexts. The strong engagement and positive participant feedback provide an excellent platform for further growth and innovation as the program evolves in 2026.
What does the 2026 program look like?
Based on member feedback and advice from the National Advisory Committee, the program will evolve in 2026 to incorporate two separate yet interconnected pathways. The Mentor Program will continue based upon the same structure successfully initiated last year, with members able to nominate as a mentee (for less-experienced or early career professionals) or mentor (for mid-career or experienced professionals) for a series of one-to one online mentoring sessions. Members that nominate for ongoing involvement in 2026 will be paired with different colleagues from the 2025 Program.
Members will also have the option of nominating for involvement in a new aspect of the program – Peer Learning Hubs. As the name suggests, this new initiative provides an additional connection point and sharing experience for members through an informal online hub.
Similar to the Mentor Program, the Peer Learning Hubs are member-led and focussed on the needs or interests of the Hub members. The Hubs will generally consist of three members, with each member taking the lead in planning and facilitating a session throughout the year.
Members are invited to nominate for both the Mentor Program and Peer Learning Hub via the online form distributed within the SSP community. Once submissions close, members will be matched with other professionals around Australia based on their preferences. If you nominate for involvement in both parts of the program, your Peer Learning Hub will be matched with different members to your mentor / mentee partner.
