Fasttrak Projects: Athletics Australia STAR Interactive

Athletics Australia's STAR Resource was a 257 page training book distributed to seconday schools across the country. It was a very comprehensive resource, containing theoretical and practical coaching information on the track and field events, as well as providing advice on such areas as injury prevention and nutrition. The resource provided information and lesson plans for PE teachers, as well as advice and programs for teachers training young athletes for inter-school carnivals.

Innovative staff at Atletics Australia wanted to turn this resource into a leading edge multimedia resource for school teachers, using video, interviews, pictures and lesson pans to make teaching athletics an easier task. Fasttrak’s challenge was to produce such an interactive and the required content, focussing on a product that would be easy to understand and even easier to use (thus increasing its application amongst teachers).

The interactive also needed to reflect the reputation and regard of Athletics Australia visually. Fasttrak's David Lynch, with a background in teaching and a long time all-round athlete, took on the challenge of managing this project.

Introduction for the resource:
A short and engaging introduction was developed featuring well known indigenous track athlete Kyle Van der Kyup.

Fasttrak undertook the task of scripting the video segments to cover the entire Star Program. Over 30 hours of footage was shot for the video segments, including interviews from noted track and field personalities such as Tamsyn Lewis, Kyle Van der Kyup and Scott Martin.

The footage was broken down and carefully edited into 2-11 minute educational clips, covering each event category for school level track and field. Cutting edge graphics, schematics and coaching comments were integrated to simplify each event, so that the coach would understand the crucial factors in each event before moving on to coaching techniques.

Feedback suggested that the user group wanted an interface that was very simple, and could be easily navigated without complication or complexity. This was the driving force in the development, and as a result, from any point in the interface, it is possible to watch any clip, or print any lesson plan in two clicks or less.

The interface may be viewed online without the accompanying content.

Athletics Australia is due to launch the product in April 2008, where it will be sent to thousands of schools across Australia.

In a competitive market place, it will be a great tool in promoting athletics over other sports. The simplicity and convenience of the product will mean that relatively inexperienced teachers and PE teachers will be provided with training sessions, lesson plans and the understanding needed to coach the sport. All this in two clicks!