Personal Excellence (PE Program)
Personal Excellence (PE Program)
The Swimming Australia Personal Excellence Program delivers education, preparation, and support for the personal and professional development of individuals both within their sport of swimming and outside of elite sports participation. Integrating education, career, and personal life with a high performance swimming career is a challenge, and the PE Program can assist.
The Personal Excellence (PE) program focuses upon three areas of an athlete’s journey:
Dual Career – providing guidance to athletes to undertake formal and informal learning to promote a post-sport career and foster a culture of lifelong learning
Sport/Life – assistance identifying and enhancing transferable skills and competencies developed within the High Performance environment to positively deal with the demands and challenges of contemporary issues across sport and life
Progression – preparing an athlete to successfully navigate their own HP pathway and be better equipped to make decisions that impact their performance in sport and life
Are you currently pursuing a career in swimming? Do you sometimes feel as if there are not enough hours in the day to think about anything else but your training? Have you ever had to put your studies and thoughts about alternative careers aside just to be able to give your all for sport? You should have a look at what the Swimming Australia Personal Excellence (PE) program could do for you. PE can help athletes pursue their personal development, educational, and career aspirations while not foregoing their sporting goals. There are also ways to ensure that you have something to fall back on when your sporting career ends, either because you decide to retire or something unexpected puts you off track. Being able to balance your life, making time for education or a professional career alongside elite sport, can even help you achieve your sporting goals. Many athletes report better performance in the pool when they are achieving in their lives outside sport.
How PE can assist you:
- Career counselling and planning: exploring different career pathways and goals;
- Personal development training courses: training in public speaking, media, time management, financial planning and interview skills;
- Educational guidance: assisting with university study options and liaison, vocational training and school;
- Employment preparation: writing resumes and applications, and assisting with job searching skills;
- Career referral networks: using PE's wide network to assist with work experience;
- Transitional support: assisting with retirement, injury and relocation, and setting goals for life after sport;
- Online services: education units on myAISplaybook;
- Referrals: referring athletes to other services (for example, psychologists, relationship counselling and financial advisors);
- Lifestyle management: helping to manage the balance between sporting and non-sporting pursuits.
"The national PE (formerly “ACE”) program assisted me with achieving my educational and vocational aspirations without compromising my wish to explore athletic pursuits. They provided me with great assistance (for example, assisting with time management, goal setting, and career counselling)." - Chris Fydler, Olympic gold medallist.
All Institute and Academy of Sport scholarship holders as well as Australia’s Winning Edge categorised athletes are eligible for free and friendly assistance from a PE advisor. To find out more visit: http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/personal_excellence/about
