Diversity & Inclusion in Sport Alliance’s Annual Forum: Belonging in Sport

On the 22nd of January, the Diversity & Inclusion in Sport Alliance (DISA) held their Annual Forum for 2025: Belonging in Sport.

Impactful and inspiring, the forum had many wonderful guest speakers of whom all spoke to the topic of belonging in sport. Coming together from diverse backgrounds and experiences, the input from each of the speakers provided a multifaceted lens on the growth, barriers, new resources, and future directions for how sport can use belonging as a framework for greater inclusion of Australia’s diverse communities.

Panel discussions spoke on fostering belonging in community sport, and the barriers, discrimination and vilification often faced. Mitch Gourley, Paralympian and General Manager for Sport4All Get Skilled Access shared his own lived experience of belonging in sport with a disability, sharing “Local sporting clubs embraced me and gave me opportunities. They create spaces that are more than just playing, it’s about belonging.” Building a sense of community, being involved and valued, and supporting physical, mental and social health all demonstrate the depth of how important and valuable the feeling of belonging is, especially in relation to community level sport.

The Forum was a great opportunity for industry leaders, partnering organisations, stakeholders and people working towards inclusion within sport to come together to learn from each other, have conversations, and share their stories. The alignment of overarching goals and passions was obvious within the events guests, and ignited a lot of excitement for the future.

During the Forum, the Australian Sports Commission launched their world-leading roadmap, an all inclusive approach to governance and leadership in Australian sport. Intersectionality examines how a person’s identities, such as gender, ethnicity or sexuality, can affect their access to opportunities. The roadmap encourages sports to create inclusive and safer environments, ensure more equitable access, and facilitate opportunities and welcoming experiences for all, whilst describing how systems can be designed to support the intersection of these differences in sport.

Commenting on the event, Sophie Bickford, Project Coordinator within the Sports Focus team said “the varying lived experience, professional insights and perspectives that each speaker provided throughout the day was fantastic. Collectively, the event sparked a lot of thoughts and ideas surrounding belonging in sport, and how the community sport sector can play its role in increasing belonging, removing barriers, and fostering an inclusive environment for all”.