About Us
Founded in 2009, the Gold Coast Academy of Sport is a not-for-profit sporting organisation which exists to help produce future champions within the region.
Programs are developed to provide opportunities for young able bodied and athletes with a disability to develop the fundamental physical literacy including sport specific skills. Programs also support the lifelong engagement with sport to prepare them for regional, state, national and international competition. To retain and further develop talent in sport is an important message.
Positioned in the ‘Talent’ phase of the FTEM framework, the Academy offers a variety of sporting program for athletes aged 12 – 18 years of age. Each program is uniquely designed specifically for the sport and can span a few days to six months. Programs aim to promote interest, participation, knowledge and opportunity to all involved. Programs also encourage athletes to use the tools and skills learnt to reach their full potential.
The pressures and challenges facing our talented athletes are not limited to just physical performance. Expectation, time management, social media, financial pressures, education, training, and recovery are just some pressures all athletes must cope with. The Academy focuses on offering the athlete with information to help cope with these and other areas that athletes are faced with in their sporting life. Academy programs focuses on the importance of ensuring athletes have acquired the skills and knowledge to allow them to cope with performance and training pressures to enjoy their sport and perform at their best when they step into the elite arena.
Education and retention of athletes within sport is another of the academy’s major aims. It is a well-known fact that between the ages of 12 and 18 many athletes walk away from their sport. The Academy’s mission is to engage with these athletes and offer them an opportunity to develop further within their sport through skill development and core education sessions. Recognition and acknowledgement of talent and performance is a major factor in growing the athlete’s confidence which in turn helps them to achieve.
Our guiding principle
Preparing pre-elite Gold Coast athletes for their journey to Olympic or high-performance success through quality inclusive sport and life skill programs.
Our Values
To Achieve
To Excel
To Inspire
To Respect
To Inspire
Meet Our Team
Our Directors
David Eckersley (Chair)
Chair / Director Audit and Finance
Founding partner of Cambio Group – one of the largest fully integrated financial services firms on the Gold Coast. Has completed a Master’s Degree in Professional Accounting and a qualified CPA since 2002. Father of four young boys with all spare time spent involved with many kinds of junior sport.
Glynis Nunn OAM
Vice Chair / Executive Director Athletes Services
Glynis has a long and distinguished career as both an athlete and administrator. Best known for her gold medals in the Commonwealth and Olympic Games, she is also a teacher, coach and mother. She has coached athletes to World Youth, Junior, Commonwealth, World Championships and Olympic Games. Glynis also works closely with Little Athletics Australia in developing coaching and developmental clinics.
Glynis’ love of sport saw her participate in a large variety of sports at school representing her state and district in basketball, netball, cross country and track and field. Her involvement in sport spans well over thirty years as a competitor, coach and administrator.
Since retiring from competition to work full time and have a family, Glynis committed her time to coaching and the development of coaching education pathways for National Track and Field Coaches Association where she was Executive Director for 14 years. She is also heavily involved in equestrian sports where her daughter is a state representative.
Mick Veivers AM
Director Government and Stakeholder Relations
As the Founding Chairman of the Gold Coast Academy of Sport, Mick has a long and distinguished reputation as both a player and administrator. He is well known for his international reputation in rugby league where he played for Australia in test matches and numerous international games against New Zealand and Great Britain. Mick represented Queensland ten times and was the first ever rugby league player to represent Queensland and New South Wales in consecutive years.
Mick’s love of sport extended into his working life where he worked. As a sports commentator for fourteen years before entering the field of politics. As a former Queensland Minister of Sport, he approached his political responsibilities with the same enthusiasm as he did his playing. He left a lasting legacy, a leading advocate for the development of a robust sports industry. Mick was always and prepared to put his standards on what was best for the state and his own electorate of Southport.
Mick leads by example and his involvement in ‘retirement’ as Chair of the GCAS is now further an extension of his working life.
Wayne Hickson
Wayne Hickson is an experienced Gold Coast communications, public relations and event management practitioner.
He has worked at the coalface of some of the Gold Coast’s, Queensland’s and Australia’s most significant events over the past three decades.
Wayne’s client experiences in the sport, government, major events, education, telecommunications and property sectors have given him enviable contacts in politics, business and the wider Gold Coast community.
He has also written extensively for international audiences as a writer, editor in chief, sub-editor, and media manager at seven Olympic Games, two Paralympic Games, five Commonwealth Games and a host of World Championship events across the globe.
Wayne has successfully led and managed many large teams, both in Australia and at the major overseas events.
On a community level Wayne also serves on the boards of the Gold Coast Sporting Hall of Fame and the Gold Coast Eisteddfod.
Nick Scott
Nick Scott has been a prominent business figure on the Gold Coast since arriving in the region in 1983.
Nick has spent thirty seven years (37) years working in senior roles within the media; much of this time being based in this market. He has held the positions of Director, Group General Manager, General Manager and National Sales Director. Nick has recently retired from his full time position with Southern Cross Austereo; operators on the Gold Coast of television brands Southern Cross Ten, 11 and One as well as broadcasting stations 90.9 Sea FM and 92.5 Gold FM. His commitment to the industry has been evidenced by main Board positions with Commercial Radio Australia and membership of national industry bodies overseeing Regional Australia, Research and Sales/Marketing/Codes/Branding.
Nick owns and operates his own Business/Media Consultancy ‘TGM’; consulting to local, national and international organisations.
He holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Tasmania.
Presently, Nick sits on various local Boards including Gold Coast Tourism, Gold Coast Eisteddfod, Gold Coast Community Fund and Gold Coast Academy of Sport; he has been nominated to a seat on the Legacy Committee for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Nick has also been recently invited to be an Adjunct Professor/Fellow with the Bond Business School at Bond University.
Bob Hagley
Director Commercial Operations
Bob is the current director of his private consulting firm Hagley and Associates, an organisation specialising in servicing the hotel, tourism and hospitality industry in Queensland. Bob has over twenty years experience in the international area of this industry and more recently twelve years as director of sales and marketing for Conrad Jupiters hotel and casino (1988 – 2000).
Bob has a very keen interest in sport having been a former three-time world sailing champion and is passionate in supporting the youth of the Gold Coast region. Bob brings extensive knowledge and experience to the role of director, commercial operations at the GCAS.
Prof. Kristine Toohey AM
Director Education and Sports Sciences
Kristine is a current Professor of Sport Management at Griffith University. Kristine’s passion for sport goes as back to 1973 when she studied for her Diploma of Physical Education at Sydney Teachers’ College. She then went on to complete post graduate Bachelor of Arts qualifications at the California State University at Long Beach in the USA before progressing on to complete a Masters Degree and then a PhD at the Pennsylvania State University.
With experience in the successful bid of bringing the Olympic Games to Sydney in 2000, Kristine has been instrumental in ensuring that the current Gold Coast Academy of Sport athletes and ambassadors were included in the bid process that was successful in bringing the Commonwealth Games to the Gold Coast in 2018.