The Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) today welcomed 16 National Olympic Committees from the region at the inaugural Oceania Long Term Athlete Development symposium.

The symposium is currently underway for the next two days September 14 and 15.  

ONOC Executive Director, Dennis Miller, stated that to date, Oceania has medalled in 3 sports in the Olympics; Rugby 7s, Boxing and Weightlifting.

"The workshop is ONOC’s effort to collectively agree and find a contextual overarching model – the Oceania Model," he said.

"It can potentially help to address health and education issues as well as develop a strong nation.

"Sports stakeholders need to collaborate to address Physical literacy to coordinate stakeholder approach towards structured athlete development”

"We appreciate and thank the keynote speakers, Richard Way from Sport for Life Canada and Chris Snyder Director of Coaching at USOC

"The intended outcome of the symposium is to develop the Oceania model – to better coordinate the efforts towards sport for life – sport as a tool for national development and high performance.”

The symposium is in line with ONOC’s Strategic Plan (2018 – 2021) four core functions, namely, Building and Strengthening NOC Capacity, Cultivating regional and global partnerships, Contributing towards sporting excellence and leading by example.

ONOC’s commitment in the region is its continued investment with its flagship program, OSEP, to build the capacity of the athlete entourage (Coaches and Administrators).  

Recently, ONOC invested in the Pacific Sport Compass project to assist 8countries in developing their national sport policy.

It is our hope that the discussions over the two days will start the development of the Oceania Model for NOCs to guide the development of athletes through sporting systems.