Sport for Thought is a sport-based outreach program that helps Year 9 to Year 11 students discover the possibilities of higher education, while building personal leadership skills that support success in both study and sport.
Inspiring futures through sport and personal leadership
Sport for Thought offers students an opportunity to:
- connect with inspiring student athletes
- explore university life
- build confidence and personal leadership skills
- see how sport and education can work together
Real students with real stories
At the heart of the program are UniSC’s High Performance Student Athletes. These engaging, relatable role models share their lived experiences of balancing elite sport with university study, and show students that success comes in many forms.
They'll hear how resilience, communication, and time management have helped these athletes thrive and how the same skills can support their own journey in school, sport, and life.
Engaging experiences tailored to schools
Schools can choose one or more of the following opportunities.
Sport for Thought: Rising role models
In-school speaker program
UniSC’s High Performance Student Athletes will visit your school and share their journeys, challenges, and how they’ve learned to balance elite sport and university study to reach their goals.
Sport for Thought: Personal leadership course
Self-paced online course
This flexible, self-paced online course helps students explore their strengths, set goals, and develop their personal leadership skills, while giving them a taste of university-style learning.
Sport for Thought: Immersive campus experience
UniSC campus visit
Step onto a real university campus. Students experience a day in the life at UniSC, meet student ambassadors, and see how higher education can be part of their future.
Curriculum alignment
Sport for thought is designed to align with the Australian Curriculum, supporting the development of students:General Capability: Personal and Social Capability, to develop students' self-awareness and interpersonal skills.
It also complements the Health and Physical Education (HPE) Learning Area, promoting physical wellbeing, teamwork and resilience through engaging activities.
Promoting graduate attributes
The Sport for Thought program also supports core attributes promoted by the University of the Sunshine Coast, helping students to build skills essential for lifelong learning and success:
- Organisation - encouraging structured thinking and effective time management.
- Critical and creative thinking - supporting students to explore ideas, solve problems, and think innovatively
- Ethical understanding - promoting integrity, respect, and responsible decision-making
- Communication - developing confidence and collaborative communication skills
Expanding access to education
Sport for Thought is an initiative of UniSC, funded by the Australian Government Department of Education’s Higher Education Participation and Partnership Program (HEPPP), to deliver engaging educational opportunities to low-socioeconomic schools across the Sunshine Coast region, but open and relevant to all schools.
Contact Sport for Thought
Jocelyn Elliott
Sport for Thought Manager
Email: JElliott1@usc.edu.au