42 surf life saving high performance 0 Total investment 2016–17: $872,749 (high performance: $197,749; participation $650,000; other $25,000) ASC funding as a percentage of total income: 1% Surf Life Saving Australia’s (SLSA) athlete quality and depth continues to grow, evidenced by the victory of the Australian Youth Team at the 2016 world youth championships and the pathway team winning the SANYO cup (Surf Specific) in Japan. Unfortunately, these feats were not quite matched at the senior level with the team coming second to New Zealand at the World Championships. The Australian team was extremely young (average age of 19) with five of the 12 athletes stepping up from the 2014 youth team. The sport’s leadership and team management structure and staffing has changed following the review conducted at the completion of the 2016 world championships. SLSA continues to review its squad to better balance its team across the 41 events conducted at world championships. It has made significant inroads to address the challenge of the pool events (which comprise more than half the events in the world championships) through a better-balanced squad and through the prioritisation and growth of the domestic pool-rescue competition format. The sport has recognised the need for a more tailored approach to addressing its current shortfall in pool rescue competition opportunities and is working to further establish a domestic product specifically in this area. SLSA is also working with Swimming Australia to benefit from the expertise they can provide to the pool rescue environment. Significant talent transfer opportunities remain to play an enhanced pathways role for sports such as canoeing and swimming. This has been demonstrated with a targeted talent transfer project with Australian Canoeing called the Next Wave Project. Governance commentary Surf Life Saving Australia is progressing with its governance reform and has been working to make the necessary changes in line with the ASC’s Mandatory Sports Governance Principles. While making significant progress regarding member protection, it will need to continue to work on its sports science and sports medicine framework. 2016 benchmark event // lifesaving world championships medal target 1 actual gold 0 silver 1 bronze 0 total 1