The AASC program began in Term 1, 2005 delivering fun, structured physical activities at 900 schools and OSHCS around Australia. The program will reach the target of 3,250 sites in Term 3 this year. Currently in Australia there are more than 16,000 community members who have been trained by AASC staff in the Community Coach Training Program since 2005. The program is free and available to local sporting club members, volunteers, parents, students, school teachers and OSHCS staff interested in delivering activities for the AASC program. The AASC activity list is vast, at last count there were 82 traditional and non-traditional structured physical activities being delivered around Australia. AASC is delivered by a network of regional coordinators situated in local communities throughout Australia. This is a key success factor for the program as the regional coordinators have local contacts and networks that assist in delivering the program. AASC sites have received grants to purchase sporting equipment or to assist in the delivery of the program and provide valuable opportunities for them to increase their capacity to deliver structured physical activity. The AASC program aims to increase community capacity to provide structure physical activity. The engagement of local community members in the delivery of the program has had beneficial impact on the growth of a number of local organisations. Key results from the 2006 Program Evaluation 85% of children currently participating in the AASC program in 2006 were considered inactive. On average, children participating in the AASC program have increased their structured physical activity from 1.5 hours a week to 2.9 hours, an increase of 1.4 hours a week. 93% of schools and OSHCS report that they are satisfied with the program and four out of five children show great enthusiasm to return to the program. Children participating in AASC said that they had fun (85%) and 90% of parents believe that the AASC program is providing their child a fun structured physical activity. 92% of schools, OSHCS and deliverers involved in the program believe AASC is helping build children s fundamental motor skills and 76% of participating children believe that they are now better at physical activities since starting the AASC program. 83% of schools and OSHCS believe AASC has helped them to increase their capacity to offer physical activity within school time, that is, AASC has helped teachers and OSHCS staff feel more confident in the delivery of physical activity, which has resulted in the delivery of physical activity to children outside of our program.
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