Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 19 (2016) 407–412

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Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsams

The contribution of organised sports to physical activity in Australia:

Results and directions from the Active Healthy Kids Australia 2014
Report Card on physical activity for children and young people
Stewart A. Vella a , Natasha K. Schranz b,∗ , Melanie Davern c , Louise L. Hardy d ,
Andrew P. Hills e , Philip J. Morgan f , Ronald C. Plotnikoff f , Grant Tomkinson b
a
Early Start Research Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, Australia
b
Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Australia
c
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia
d
Prevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Australia
e
Centre for Nutrition and Exercise, Mater Research Institute–The University of Queensland, Australia
f
Faculty of Education and Arts, Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition, University of Newcastle, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Youth participation in organised sport and physical activity is important for healthy development, growth
Received 12 November 2014 and wellbeing. In 2014, Active Healthy Kids Australia released its inaugural Report Card on Physical
Received in revised form 8 April 2015 Activity for Children and Young People, which synthesised the best available national- and state-level
Accepted 24 April 2015
data for children and young people (<18 years). This paper provides a more detailed examination of
Available online 30 April 2015
the evidence informing the grade for Organised Sport from the 2014 Report Card, compares Australia’s
Organised Sport grade with other countries, identifies future directions for research and surveillance,
Keywords:
and explores possible beneficial strategies. The Report Card highlighted that between 64% and 85% of
Sports
Adolescent Australians aged 5–17 years participate in organised sports, a rate higher than alternate forms of physical
Child activity such as active transportation, active play and school based physical activity. This finding reflects
Physical activity Australia’s position as one of the global leaders for participating in organised sport. Future research and
surveillance methodologies however, need to incorporate standardised metrics that aim to capture more
detailed data regarding organised sport participation. Facilitating access for all children and preventing
dropout from organised sports are important initiatives to improve current levels of sport participation.
However, given that 80% of Australians aged 5–17 years are not sufficiently physically active to achieve
the daily recommendation, participation in sport alone is not enough to ensure that children can accrue
the health benefits associated with being physically active. As such, there is a pressing need to develop
strategies that engage children in other forms of physical activity such as active transportation and active
play.
© 2015 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction people typically attending training and competitive fixtures under

Sport occupies a prominent place in the Australian national
identity. The number one indicator of national pride in Australia
is international sporting achievements,1 which is reflected in the
large number of Australians aged 5–17 years (64–85%) who par-
ticipate in some form of organised sport.2 Organised youth sports
are adult-controlled and led programmes with children and young
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: natasha.schranz@mymail.unisa.edu.au (N.K. Schranz).
the formal guidance and supervision of an adult leader, most often
the coach.3 While current figures show Australia is a leading nation
in youth sports participation, compared to other developed and
developing countries with reported participation rates of 20–59%,4
it is still concerning that about one third of young Australians do
not participate in any form of organised sport or physical activity.2
National data show that Australian children who participate in
organised sports have better health-related quality of life and
mental health than their non-participating peers.5,6 However, anal-
yses of the overall physical activity levels of Australian children
unequivocally demonstrate that sport is not enough as the sole

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2015.04.011
1440-2440/© 2015 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
408 S.A. Vella et al. / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 19 (2016) 407–412

outlet for physical activity with less than 20% of Australians aged interpreted by a national Research Working Group (RWG) com-
5–17 years meeting the recommended Australian physical activity prising 24 physical activity and health experts from 10 Australian
guidelines.2 Universities and research institutes. The data (nationally represen-
tative datasets were primarily used) were evaluated by the RWG
(purposeful discussions occurred before the expert panel reached a
2. Physical activity and sport: Are they the same and why
consensus) based on pre-determined weighting criteria in order to
are both important?
assign letter grades to each of the indicators using a quintile-based
grading framework.2
Physical activity is “any bodily movement produced by skele-
The indicators include individual behaviours contributing to
tal muscles that results in energy expenditure“,7 however physical
overall physical activity levels (Organised Sport and Physical
activity and sport are not synonymous. Physical activity can be
Activity Participation, Physical Education and Physical Activity
divided into components, including: leisure-time; occupational
Participation in Schools, Active Play, Active Transportation, and
(e.g., physical education participation at school); transport (e.g.,
Sedentary Behaviours), settings and sources of influence (Family
walking to and or from different destinations); and domestic (e.g.,
and Peers, School, Community and the Built Environment), strate-
household chores) related activity, with sport a sub-set of leisure
gies and investments (Government Strategies and Investments),
time physical activity.8 Therefore the health benefits associated
and traits (Aerobic Fitness, Movement Skills) (Fig. 1). A summary of
with physical activity during childhood and adolescence, including
the Report Card results and the specific survey characteristics for
benefits to blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, adiposity, skeletal
each of the primary national data sources used have been published
and mental health,9 and reduced risk of chronic diseases such as
elsewhere.2,18
heart disease and Type-2 diabetes10 are also indirectly associated
A prominent finding from the 2014 Report Card was that Over-
with the physical activity young people engage in while participat-
all Physical Activity Levels was graded ‘D minus(−)‘, on the basis of
ing in organised sports.
national evidence indicating that only 19% of 5–17 year olds met
Organised sports participation during childhood and adoles-
the recommended Australian physical activity guideline of at least
cence however, is also associated with important psychosocial
60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day.2,18
benefits including increased self-esteem, wellbeing and social
While similar grades were allocated to other behaviours (e.g. Active
skills.11 Sport has the potential to provide children with the
Transportation was graded ‘D’), Organised Sport Participation was
opportunity to engage with their peers and learn teamwork and
graded ‘B−’, based on estimates that about two-thirds of young
negotiation skills; to develop self-discipline; to learn how to work
Australians engage in some form of organised sport each year. In
within the rules, regulations and etiquette of a social system; to
comparison to international participation rates, this grade repre-
develop decision-making skills; and to cumulatively acquire trans-
sents a national strength and highlights the potential of organised
ferable movement skills that gives them a sense of movement
sports to facilitate healthy growth, development, and wellbeing
competence and confidence.12 It has been estimated that organised
of Australian children and young people. However, it is unclear
sports contribute between 23% and 60% of Australian children’s
why there is a substantial gap between organised sports and other
(6–12 years) daily physical activity time13 and up to 60% of daily
indicators of physical activity in Australia. Organised sports are
activity energy expenditure during adolescence (9–16 years)14 . The
potentially an important aspect to be included within a national
Global Advocacy for Physical Activity has identified participation in
preventative health priority, focused on increasing overall physical
sports as one of the seven worldwide “investments that work” for
activity levels, with over 2.5 million children participating in orga-
improving physical activity levels,15 and it has been suggested that
nised sports nationwide.19 The objectives of this paper were to:
if every child participated regularly in two distinct organised sports
(1) provide a more detailed examination of the evidence inform-
per year, the prevalence of obesity in childhood could be reduced by
ing the Organised Sport grade from the 2014 AHKA report card (2)
26%.16 Further, research undertaken in a nationally-representative
explore other important national research and surveillance find-
sample of Australian children showed that participation in orga-
ings in the area of organised sports; (3) provide a comparison of
nised sports for at least two years was associated with a clinically
Australian data to that of other countries; (4) provide suggestions
significant increase in health-related quality of life5 and a 10–20%
for future research and surveillance; (5) suggest ways in which we
reduction in risk of being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder
can improve the grade for Organised Sport; (6) discuss ‘Is Sport
relative to children who do not participate.6
Enough?’ in the context of overall physical activity levels; and,
(7) describe the limitations of the Report Card methodologies and
3. What is the Physical Activity Report Card and what is its findings.
purpose?

Active Healthy Kids Canada has released a Report Card on
Physical Activity for Children and Youth annually for the past 10
years.17 The Report Card is a translation of knowledge on surveil-
lance, policy and research related to physical activity of children
and youth, which aims to inform stakeholders of the epidemiol-
ogy of children’s physical activity, guide programmes, messages
and policies to promote and support physical activity, and high-
light where high quality national data are lacking for specific
indicators. The Active Healthy Kids initiative has now expanded
to 15 countries from five continents, including Australia, result-
ing in the development of country report cards. In 2014, Active
Healthy Kids Australia (AHKA, www.activehealthykidsaustralia.
com.au) produced the first evidence-informed Australian Report
Card on Physical Activity for Children and Young People.2 The AHKA
Report Card is a synthesis of the best available national and state-
level evidence across 12 physical activity indicators, which were
4. Summary of the evidence used to grade the participation
levels of Australian children and young people in organised
sports
The core metric used to assess participation in organised sport
was ‘the proportion of Australian children and young people par-
ticipating in organised sport at least once over the past 12 months
[both in and outside of school]’ and the grade assigned was reflec-
tive of the synthesis of several large national data sets that report a
range of participation rates, with variations potentially highlighting
measurement inconsistencies. For example, the Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS) estimated that 64% of Australians aged 5–17 years
participated in organised sports over the past 7 days.21 Another
nationally-representative sample of Australian secondary school
students aged 12–17 years showed that 85% participated in orga-
nised sports across the past 12 months.22 Estimates for younger
 S.A. Vella et al. / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 19 (2016) 407–412 409

Fig. 1. Visual representation of the 2014 AHKA Physical Activity Report Card indicator categories. Adapted from the 2013 Active Healthy Kids Canada Physical Activity Report
Card.20 Note:, + = increases PA levels, − = decreases PA levels, AHKA = Active Healthy Kids Australia, PA = Physical Activity.

children aged 6–7 years suggest that 74% had participated in orga-
nised sports (at least once per week for the duration of an entire
sporting season) in the past 12 months, increasing to 79% for chil-
dren aged 11–12 years23 . In the absence of consistent measures
and subsequent variations in reported participation rates, Orga-
nised Sport was assigned a B− grade. This reflects the likelihood
that the overall organised sports participation rate for Australians
aged 5–17 years is between 64% and 85%. From these findings and
those of the other physical activity behaviours assessed by the
Report Card, it seems a larger proportion of young Australians par-
ticipate in organised sport than other physical activity behaviours
such as active transport (graded a D) and active play (graded an
Incomplete).2,18
5. Findings based on additional national and state-based
sources
The ABS report the overall organised sport participation rates
of Australians aged 5–14 years has remained relatively stable over
the last 15 years. In the year 2000, 64% of children participated in
organised sports, 68% in 2006,24 and 66% in 2012.19 However, when
examining state-based data, it appears there has been an increase in
sports participation in some states. For example in South Australia
participation in organised sports among 9–13 year olds increased
from 57% to 68% between 1985 and 2013.25 In Victoria, the increase
in participation among this age group was reported to be 57% in
1985 to 92% in 2001.26 Similarly, in New South Wales the median
time spent in organised sports significantly increased during sum-
mer and winter school terms among 12–16 year olds boys and girls
between 1997 and 2004.27 Large variability in state-based esti-
mates and inconsistencies with national data highlight the need for
standardised national surveillance measures to eliminate method-
ological inconsistencies and enable inter-jurisdiction comparisons.
Also, given the lack of current data for some of the above-mentioned
states, it is important that new surveys be conducted to determine
recent time trends in participation rates.
While cross-sectional surveillance data can help to ascer-
tain population estimates of participation, these data are limited
because they cannot shed light on important behaviours including
dropout, maintenance, and commencement rates. Data from the
Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) show that 12% of
all sports participants at age 8 had dropped out by age 10.23 On
the other hand, 47% of all nonparticipants at age 8 had commenced
sport participation by age 10.5 These fluctuations are masked by
410 S.A. Vella et al. / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 19 (2016) 407–412
Table 1
Global Matrix of grades for Organised Sport Participation.4
Grade (participation rate) Country
A (>80%) Nil
B (60–79%) New ZealandAustralia (B−)
C (40–59%) Canada
(C+)FinlandGhanaKenyaSouth
AfricaEngland (C−)Ireland
(C−)United States (C−)
D (20–39%) ColumbiaMexico
F (<20%) Mozambique
Incomplete data NigeriaScotland
the overall participation rate remaining steady at 79% at both age
8 and age 10.5
National surveillance data indicate that participation rates in
organised sport rise throughout childhood (5–11 years) and decline
during adolescence.19 Participation rates are slightly higher for girls
than for boys aged 5–8 years, but higher for boys from age 9 and
throughout adolescence.19 Girls aged 5–8 years spend more time
in organised sports (including dance) per week than age-matched
boys (approximately 2 h 9 min vs. 1 h 51 min).19 In contrast, boys
aged 12–17 years spend more time in organised sports per week
than age-matched girls (8 h 23 min vs. 6 h 13 min),28 however it
is important to note that a large proportion of the time that chil-
dren spend participating in organised sport is spent being inactive
(e.g., listening to instructions from the coach, game stoppages,
poorly designed activities that require minimal movement and
long waiting periods, etc.). Sport contributes to an average of
45% (approximately 43 min) of MVPA each day and approximately
58% of MVPA energy expenditure,14 with a greater percentage of
MVPA present in practice sessions (20 min per hour) than com-
petitive games (18 min per hour).29 Finally, research suggests that
access and affordability of sports may be an important barrier
to participation.30 Using LSAC data, indicators of social disadvan-
tage, such as low household income and a primary language other
than English, predicted both non-participation and dropout from
organised sports during childhood.30 Together, these variables suc-
cessfully predicted 83% of cases of sports participation and 90% of
cases of dropout at a two-year follow-up.
6. Comparison to other countries
The 2014 Physical Activity Report Card was released alongside
the 14 other country report cards as part of a “Global Matrix” of
grades4 released at the Global Summit on Physical Activity for Chil-
dren in Toronto, Canada, in May 2014. All country report cards
graded nine core indicators of physical activity using a standard-
ised methodology and reporting process (e.g., the metric used
to assess Organised Sport was ‘the proportion of children and
youth who participate in organised sport and/or physical activity
programmes’). The coordinated release of data allowed for interna-
tional comparison of grades and activity levels across 15 developed
and developing countries. The full range of global grades for Orga-
nised Sport Participation is given in Table 1. While most countries
received a grade of ‘C’ with about half of children participating in
organised sport, New Zealand (B) and Australia (B−) are leading
the world with well over half of children participating in orga-
nised sport. It is probable that this good grade for Australia will
continue, with evidence of increases (∼5% point per decade) in
the prevalence of children who regularly participate in organised
sport in recent decades25–27 (see previous section). Interestingly,
analysis of Table 1 reveals that the grades for Organised Sport
Participation are strongly and positively related to the grades
for Community and the Built Environment (rho = 0.65, p = 0.03).
This relationship makes sense because community infrastructure,
policies, programmes, space, safety and supervision are important
factors that may positively affect organised sports participation.4
For example, the availability of sporting facilities close to home
and in a safe neighbourhood may be an important facilitator of
organised sports participation at the population level. There was
a consensus across countries that more and better quality data are
needed on the quality of organised sports programmes, as well as
on the frequency, intensity, and duration of physical activity asso-
ciated with organised sports participation.4
7. Future directions for research and surveillance
The inconsistency in measurement of physical activity
behaviours across Australian states and territories is detrimental
when determining estimates of organised sports participation
as well as other physical activity domains. The Australian Phys-
ical Activity Report Card highlighted this significant issue and a
key recommendation of the Report Card’s RWG was to address
measurement issues. Accelerometry, despite providing objective
estimates, is not the sole solution as it does not provide contex-
tual information to estimate children’s participation in different
domains of physical activity, including participation in organised
sports. Rather, consensus across jurisdictions on a standardised
measure or multiple measures is required: a problem not unique
to Australia.
The RWG recommends that national surveillance should mea-
sure the proportion of Australian children and young people
participating in organised team/individual sports at least every 3
years (to fit with the pre-existing national data collection cycle).
To (1) promote consistency in national surveillance; (2) assess only
those who participate consistently (e.g., throughout an entire sport-
ing season); (3) capture the participation rates in both individual
and team sports, given the differential health effects,5 and (4) cap-
ture the participation rates both within and outside of school. It
is recommended the following items be used to monitor partici-
pation in organised sports outside of school: “Have you/has your
child participated in organised team sports (e.g., basketball, foot-
ball, netball) on a regular basis outside of school (at least once per
week for at least 3 months or an entire sporting season) over the
past year?”; and “Have you/has your child participated in orga-
nised individual sports (e.g., martial arts, dance) on a regular basis
outside of school (at least once per week for at least 3 months or
an entire sporting season) over the past year?” It is recommended
the following items be used to monitor participation in organised
sports within the school environment: “Have you/has your child
participated in organised team sports (e.g., basketball, football, net-
ball) on a regular basis within school (at least once per week for at
least 3 months or an entire sporting season/school term) over the
past year?”; and “Have you/has your child participated in organised
individual sports (e.g., martial arts, dance) on a regular basis within
school (at least once per week for at least 3 months or an entire
sporting season/school term) over the past year?”
To more fully understand and delineate the health benefits of
participation in organised sport and physical activity, it is also rec-
ommended that objective measures of physical activity be used.
Along with observational data (in both practice and competitive
settings), this will enable quantification of intensity and dura-
tion of physical activity during participation in organised sports.
These data will be valuable alongside other health indicators such
as health-related quality of life, psychosocial measures and bio-
markers of cardiometabolic diseases. This information may also
guide public understanding of why sports may be insufficient
by themselves to provide enough physical activity for minimum
health benefits. More longitudinal data are also required to reli-
ably track children’s engagement with organised sports over time
 S.A. Vella et al. / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 19 (2016) 407–412
(including dropout rates, reasons for drop-out and re-engagement
of dropouts), and the association between organised sport partici-
pation and physical and mental health outcomes, and the influence
of the quality of sporting experience (e.g., coach quality, motiva-
tional climate) on physical activity and physical and mental health
outcomes. It is also important to examine whether young people are
involved in a single sport or multiple sports at each time point, and
the time spent in sport, to determine dose-response relationships
between sports participation and health outcomes.
Due to demonstrable health benefits associated with participa-
tion in organised sports,10,11 preventing dropout from youth sport
should be considered a public health priority. The gross health-
care savings attributable to maintaining participation in organised
sports are approximately $1.49 billion per year in Australia.31 More
attention is also warranted to assess the contribution of lifestyle
and action sports such as BMX riding, skateboarding and rock
climbing. Despite claims that the popularity of these sports is rising,
data remain scant.32 As reported by the Australian Sports Commis-
sion, these sports are likely to attract more participants through
generational change and have a higher ‘visibility’ as a result of their
online prevalence.32 The health benefits of these particular sports,
however, are unknown and given the lack of data at present it is
unclear the best way to capture participation in such sports.
8. Improving the grade
Sport occupies a prominent place in the Australian national
identity, but despite Australia being one of the leading countries
worldwide in terms of participation, 25–35% of young Australians
(5–17 years) do not participate in organised sports. An impor-
tant opportunity exists to leverage the significant national interest
in sports to promote greater participation through direct and
indirect means. Direct means include increasing access to orga-
nised sports and preventing dropout, while indirect measures
include the provision of good quality physical education during
primary school, which predicts participation in organised sports
at a national level.30 Affordability and access to organised sports
needs to be addressed to ensure socially disadvantaged groups
have equitable access to good quality sporting programmes.30
This may include a decrease in the cost of sports participation
through government assistance, or providing community sport-
ing programmes in low socioeconomic areas. Twelve percent of
Australian children (approx. 300,000 individuals)19 drop out of
organised sports between the ages of 10 and 12 years,5 and this is
likely to increase with age.33 Therefore, programmes and/or strate-
gies that are designed to increase retention in organised sports and
also aim to improve the quality and increase the quantity of physical
activity encountered by children when participating in organised
sports, should be supported by policies at the national, state and
community levels. For example, young Australians who participate
in Australian Rules Football and Football (soccer) do so without the
accumulation of competition points. Such measures are hypothe-
sised to reduce stress and anxiety in sports, support the acquisition
of basic skills, and lead to higher rates of enjoyment.34,35
Indirect measures such as the addition of good quality PE during
primary school is also an important strategy. The use of special-
ist PE teachers during primary school has been shown to predict
participation in organised sports at a national level.30 This is per-
haps because specialist PE teachers or highly trained classroom
teachers are able to facilitate greater sport-related outcomes such
as higher levels of physical activity, fitness, and fundamental move-
ment skills when compared with untrained teachers,36–39 and are
therefore more likely to facilitate successful and motivated partic-
ipation in organised sports. Non-specialist PE teachers do not have
the relevant expertise to facilitate these outcomes and experience
411
significant barriers to teaching PE.40 Other indirect measures
include initiatives to increase the quality of the sporting experience,
such as coach training. Coach behaviours and the coach-created
motivational climate are salient predictors of dropout from orga-
nised youth sports.33 Coach training aimed at helping coaches
to facilitate motivating climates has shown that dropout can be
reduced by 80%41 and this would have substantial economic and
public health benefits if applied nationally.8,31 However, current
coaching accreditation courses do not include relevant information
to allow coaches to promote physical activity or to prevent dropout
from organised sports42 and in addition many sporting associa-
tions/organisations do not enforce mandatory coaching courses,
especially for primary school sports.
9. Is sport enough?
It is encouraging that a large proportion of young Australians
participate in organised sport. It is also important that attempts are
being made at the community, state and national levels to standard-
ise research and surveillance methodologies and improve the grade
through various programmes, policies and strategies. However, as
mentioned previously, sport is only one component of physical
activity8 therefore in order to improve the Overall Physical Activ-
ity Levels of young Australians, we need to acknowledge that sport
alone is not enough. It is imperative that we encourage, support
and facilitate the incorporation of more physical activity through-
out their everyday life such as using active transport to and or from
school; allowing children to engage in unstructured indoor and out-
door play at both school and home; and breaking up long periods of
sedentary time whilst limiting time engaged in electronic media.2
Improving the physical activity levels of children and young people
when participating in organised sports is also an important factor
to consider moving forward.2
10. Limitations of the Report Card methodology and its
findings
The 2014 AHKA Report Card is based upon the best available
national- and state-level data but there are methodological limita-
tions that need to be noted. The heterogeneity of data collection
methodologies (e.g., self-report, proxy-report CATI) and instru-
ments/questionnaires (e.g., difference in questions, recall periods)
is a limitation as different methods and instruments can produce
different estimates. The use of self-report data is also a limitation,
however population monitoring typically relies on self-report data
due to the expense and expertise required for objective monitoring.
The strength of self-report data however is that contextual informa-
tion can be collected which is not available from objective measures
such as accelerometers.
Secondly, each of the core metrics were based upon self-report
data due to the lack of high quality nationally representative
objective data across each of the indicators. This prevented the
RWG from assessing the quality of the activity being performed
(e.g., while we know that approximately two-thirds of young Aus-
tralians participate in organised sport, we do not know how active
they are when they participate). Lastly, each of the 15 country
report cards released at the 2014 Global Summit used standard-
ised methodology and reporting process; however the level of
the evidence used to inform grades varied between countries. For
example, while some countries used objectively measured data,
most used self-reported questionnaire data. These limitations high-
light the need for standardised measures (and where possible the
use of objective measures) at both the national and international
levels.
412 S.A. Vella et al. / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 19 (2016) 407–412
11. Conclusion
It is estimated that over two-thirds of Australian children par-
ticipate in sport, however less than 20% meet daily physical activity
recommendations. While sport provides many health and psycho-
social benefits to children, it is clearly not enough. The AHKA 2014
Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Young People
has highlighted evidence gaps including a lack of participation
information (e.g., drop-outs, and commencers of participation),
limited surveillance data across state jurisdictions, and measure-
ment differences. Facilitating access to, and preventing dropout
from, organised sports for all young Australians is an important
public health issue to improve health now and in the future. How-
ever, a greater focus is needed on facilitating higher levels of
physical activity outside of organised sports to promote public
health, including active transportation, good quality physical edu-
cation and active play.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all other members of the Research Work-
ing Group for their assistance and guidance during the production
of the 2014 Report Card. Prof Tim Olds, Dr Dylan Cliff, Dr Lina Enge-
len, Prof Billie Giles-Corti, Dr Sjaan Gomersall, Dr Kylie Hesketh, A
Prof David Lubans, Prof Dune Macdonald, Ms Rona Macniven, Prof
Tony Okely, Dr Anne-Maree Parrish, A Prof Trevor Shilton, Prof Leon
Straker, A Prof Anna Timperio, Prof Stewart Trost and Prof Jenny
Ziviani.
The 2014 Report Card used unit record data from the Grow-
ing Up in Australia, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
The study is conducted in partnership between the Department
of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
(FaHCSIA), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and
the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The findings and views
reported in this paper are those of the author and should not be
attributed to the FaHCSIA, the AIFS or the ABS. It also used unit-
record data from the National Secondary Students’ Diet and Activity
(NaSSDA) survey. We acknowledge that the NaSSDA survey was
funded by Cancer Council Australia and the National Heart Foun-
dation of Australia.
We would like to acknowledge that author RCP is funded by a
Salary Award from the National Health & Medical Research Council
of Australia (GNT1023602).
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