57 The Youth Participation Project sought to identify and address the barriers to sports participation amongst youth (aged 13–17) in the secondary school environment. La Trobe University were engaged by the ASC to conduct research and capture findings from a teacher, student, parent and NSO perspective. The research revealed a number of significant findings, relevant to the education and sports sectors; these included; > > what a deliverer says and how they say it has a significant influence on student engagement and participation > > for parents/guardians, sport becomes more stressful due to increased and ongoing costs > > many parents/guardians value academic performance or other extra-curricular activities above sport > > for teaching staff, sport is more stressful in a secondary school environment (compared to primary school) > > for principals, academic performance is the priority > > for funding bodies and NSOs/deliverers, delivering sport in a secondary school environment is an administrative challenge. AusPlay, first launched in November 2015, provides participation data for the government and the sport sector to help better understand the participation landscape and identify strategies to grow participation. The first update was released In April 2017 and the reporting showed an increase in organised sport participation. There was overlap with the initial reporting period and subsequent reports will show valuable trend data. The ASC has committed to updating AusPlay data every six months with the next release scheduled for October 2017. Supplementing the AusPlay data, the ASC continues to use the ASPR to track NSO participation across a range of measures. This includes membership with sporting organisations, or active participation, and broader exposure to sports through events, school sport or program-level activities. In 2016, nine sports updated their methodology for calculating participation rates which will provide greater accuracy for future datasets. Whilst the data collection is an improved process it will not present a valid comparison to 2015 figures and for this reason those nine sports have been excluded from the overall NSO participation growth figures. Of the 26 sports considered, 21 NSOs recorded an increase in participation rates for 2016. The Participation Investment Categorisation Framework was fully implemented in 2016–17 to prioritise funding to those NSOs who are best placed to deliver participation outcomes. The level of investment for each category remained consistent with the 2015–16 funding. A new category was established for sports with revenue greater than $250 million which resulted in four sports receiving a reduction in funding for 2016–17. Eight sports achieved participation growth to an extent where they advanced to a higher category and subsequently, an increase in funding. In all, 60 NSOs received participation funding in 2016–17. Future categorisation of sports will be informed by ASPR and the AusPlay survey.