Evaluation of the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Association (NASCA) Athlete and Role Models Tour (ARMtour): A Case Study of Three Remote Communities

The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the influence of the ARMtour program on three communities (Ntaria, Papunya and Ltyentye Apurte). The fourth community, Yuelamu, was evaluated in October, 2013. Due to the success of the Yuelamu evaluation, we conducted a larger-scale evaluation across the three other ARMtour program communities in August and October, 2014. One small change was made to the methods from 2013. This change was made to encourage students to extend their conversations of how the ARMtour program contributes to their lives and how it could continue to influence and inspire their growth and development. To do this, Art-based classroom activities were used and students were asked to explain their Art piece to the researcher and one of the other ARMtour role models (in each community). The design focused on the ARMtour program’s influence on children and adolescents’ life skills, self-esteem, participation in sport and physical activity, and educational engagement and aspirations. All community stakeholders were invited to participate in an interview to gauge their understanding and perspectives in terms of the role they believe the ARMtour program currently has and can continue to play in each of the communities. In addition, all role models that participated in the August and October, 2014 tours were invited to partake in an interview. This evaluation concludes with recommendations for the ARMtour program and for each of the communities it is currently embedded.