Path to Potential provides diversified workforce for leisure and aquatic industry
Our Sports Development Officer delivering a professional development session for Go4Fun leaders at South Western Sydney Local Health District.
As a Work Integrated Social Enterprise (WISE) a primary focus of ours is to provide broader societal impacts by supporting young people from refugee backgrounds into employment in the leisure and aquatic industries. Meaningful employment brings many benefits including improved financial, physical and mental well-being, sense of belonging and self-esteem while allowing for more successful integration into the community.1
To date we have supported more than 40 young people through volunteering, free training, referrals and employment opportunities both within our organisation and with partner employers. Internally, we provide employment opportunities as Sports Coaches to deliver multisport sessions to community groups and local schools. Many of these are accessible programs to support children with disability through an inclusive approach to sports and games. We also provide employment as Support Workers to assist with administration and social support for our programs.
We have developed relationships with other industry employers to ensure our candidates are able to pursue their own interests and passions for long-term employment sustainability. We currently have candidates placed with:
Raging Waters
Belgravia Leisure
South Western Sydney Local Health District
And relationships with many more for interested candidates to pursue their career aspirations. In 2024 our Sports Development Officer delivered a Professional Development session for SWSLHD’s Go4Fun Leaders.
Our passion for supporting young people stems from CEO David Burns’ time at Auburn Aquatic Centre where he collaborated with a local organisation to implement a Learn to Swim and employment program for young people from refugee backgrounds, later known as the CALD Academy. That program saw more than 30 young people employed with swimming lessons provided to over 100 people.
Building on the success of this program and the positive outcomes for participants, supportive and inclusive employment became part of the core ethos of Collective Leisure. When Collective Leisure began in 2019 we started with a small group of 4 sports coaches delivering sports programs in local schools to children with disability in partnership with Special Olympics Australia with that number now growing to 13 including regular volunteers.
We work closely with partner community organisations to support candidates into work and achieve positive outcomes, including Asylum Seekers Centre who provided this feedback:
“It's been really great being connected with Collective Leisure and being able to tap into knowledge around sports and recreation work pathways, as this is an area that we had little experience with at ASC. Clients have successfully been linked with training and upskilling programs, and I've seen first hand the positive impact it's had on their lives. A champion swimmer left their manufacturing job and now gets to work at a pool again. Another client with high level football experience has been connected with sports coaching training and has increased their local network. We're really looking forward to continuing our relationship with Collective Leisure and seeing our successful collaborations in the future.”
We have received positive feedback from our participants who have been working as Lifeguards with Belgravia Leisure:
"Working at Belgravia as a Lifeguard is a really good place for me. I do gym and swimming training there and it's my favourite place to be. Before, I was working in a warehouse but this job is much more in line with my interests and experience. It's really my dream to be working in the same place as my swimming and gym."
"The impact of the lifeguard training and my new job is positive and I personally feel very good. Now I am in an environment where I can meet lots of people from different cultures and improve my English every day. Everyone in the team I am working with is cool and I get along with them as well as my managers. I thank you infinitely for having connected me to these opportunities!"
This program is run entirely pro bono by Collective Leisure.
Wood, N., Charlwood, G., Zecchin, C. et al. Qualitative exploration of the impact of employment and volunteering upon the health and wellbeing of African refugees settled in regional Australia: a refugee perspective. BMC Public Health 19, 143 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6328-2