The AW&E network was first launched by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 2018 and has grown to have almost 60 managers working with sports,  State and Territory Sport Institutes and Academies.

Former Australian Netball Diamond Eloise Southby-Boyle is the AW&E Manager for Wheelchair Rugby Australia and is looking after the world champion Steelers for Paris.

“It's hard yakka to be an elite athlete. It's hard to manage all of that, let alone to add your life on top of that and have that all sorted,” Southby-Boyle said.

“I feel with my role is to be that supportive person and someone that athletes can come and just debrief with. With the lead up to Paris Paralympics, we are coordinating a lot of things just to make sure that their life plans are in order and that they've got wellbeing plans for the Games.

“Athletes work their whole life to sometimes get to this and while some athletes go in and think I'll be at LA, I'll be in Brisbane, life also doesn't work like that. So, you've got to capture that moment and make that opportunity count and that’s what we help with.”

Southby-Boyle took time out from her Paris prep this week to join her fellow AW&E Managers at the AIS, with the conference an opportunity to share learnings and experiences with people from other sports ahead of the Games.

The theme of the conference was ‘Resourcing Yourself to Win Well’, linking in with the commitment of Australia’s High Performance 2032+ Sport Strategy to prioritise athlete wellbeing is an enabler for sustainable success.

Hockey Australia AW&E Manager Samantha Cox found the conference a valuable experience, especially with the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos just weeks away from naming their Paris teams.

“There was a lot of knowledge and expertise in the room, so it was great to be able to hear from and learn from peers,” Cox said.

“For Hockey, our pre-Paris support really starts now. For those who aren’t selected, it’s about making sure we spend some time with them to process, because with Olympic cycles, it's been four years they've been working towards this.

“And then with the selected athletes, it's going through the expectations, giving them strategies so they can just focus on hockey and cancel out the outside noise, and do everything we can to best prepare them to get on that flight to Paris.”

Follow this link to learn more about the AW&E Network and AIS wellbeing support.