Accelerate Immersion Experience Grants continue career support for program alumni
When it comes to chasing career goals, Paralympian Meg Lemon believes getting your foot in the door is often the hardest part.
02 December 2024
When it comes to chasing career goals, Paralympian Meg Lemon believes getting your foot in the door is often the hardest part.
Meg Lemon (left) and Samantha Hamilton (right) leveraged the AIS Accelerate Immersion Experience Grants to fast-track their careers in sport.
So when the opportunity arose to gain hands-on experience working as a sports dietitian at the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI), Lemon jumped at it and utilised the support of an Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Accelerate Immersion Experience Grant to make it possible.
“This is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Lemon said.
“Without this grant, I wouldn't have been able to get the opportunity at SASI and show them what I can offer in terms of my experience as an athlete, and someone with a disability who's really passionate about nutrition.”
“I'm now at a stage where I'm developing the career plan that I established at the start of the program, and I'm succeeding with some ambitious goals and will hopefully progress to a leadership role in sport long term.”
Immersion Experience Grants are an extension of the AIS Accelerate Program, aimed at supporting retired women athletes to fast-track their careers with employment-enhancing experiences in the sports system.
For former Australian baseballer Samantha Hamilton, the grant allowed her to travel to America and gain coaching experience as part of Baseball Australia’s High Performance program.
She’s now leagues ahead of where she imagined she’d be in her career and plans to share her knowledge to upskill other female coaches.
“I think if not for the Accelerate program and the Immersion grant, I wouldn't be where I am today,” Hamilton said.
“I would have got here at some point, but probably in ten years and not in the short amount of time it's taken me to get here, so it really has expedited my coaching experience and my knowledge.”
Hamilton and Lemon now encourage their fellow alumni to apply for the 2025 Accelerate Immersion Grants, having recently come together as a group for the first-ever Athlete Accelerate Alumni program.
Group photo from the Athlete Accelerate Alumni program held at the AIS in Canberra.
Held at the AIS in Canberra, the three day program featured high performance strategy, governance and leadership sessions to help the alumni reach their full potential, aligning with the Australian Sport’s Commission’s vision of promoting more women into leadership roles.
Find out more or apply for an AIS Accelerate Immersion Experience Grant.
Applications are open now until 30 May 2025 for current and alumni AIS Athlete Accelerate Program participants.
