New and returning UWA student athletes attended the 2025 UWA Student Athlete Development Program Welcome Lunch held at The Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery on Monday 10 March 2025.
This annual event provides an opportunity for UWA’s student athletes to meet and greet key University staff and the student athlete community. This year, special guests included Director of Student Accommodation and Community Ian Fitzpatrick and UWA Sports Council President Taneesha Stallbaum.
The UWA Student Athlete Development Program supports student athletes, coaches and officials in balancing their dual career aspirations and houses some of Australia’s highest achieving Olympians, World Champions, and Sporting Professionals. With over 400 athletes across 53 different sports UWA Sport is proud to have the highest number of student athletes of any university in Western Australia.
Student Athlete Development Program Coordinator Ellie Brown hosted the intimate lunchtime event where returning and new students were able to make meaningful connections in their third week on campus. A key feature of the event was the panel discussion that included experienced student athletes at UWA, Elyse Ainsworth and Alex Perin. These returning students provided sage advice to the incoming cohort and shared their insights on balancing academia and sports.
The event included guest speakers from various departments of UWA including the UWA Student Wellbeing and Engagement, Student Experience and the UWA Academic Skills Centre, who shared useful information and resources for students to thrive on campus.
The Student Athlete Development Program has recently undergone a restructure of the tier system. This new model carefully outlines the resources and opportunities available to each student athlete at UWA.
The program’s ethos is “people first, student second and athlete third,” and aims to provide student athletes with access to a variety of support mechanisms to aid in balancing and achieving their dual career aspirations.
UWA Sport congratulates and welcomes all new student athletes to the University and program, and we look forward to supporting all athletes on their academic and sporting journeys.