SportLink: Bridging the Gap Between Volunteering and Sport
A QUT Sport & Innovation Central Brisbane ProtoComp 2025 success story
In Semester One 2025, as part of the Sport Innovation ProtoComp, a collaboration between QUT Sport and Innovation Central Brisbane, student innovators came together to tackle an important challenge:
How might we create a smarter, more inclusive, and sustainable sporting experience that enhances performance, event operations, and spectator engagement while ensuring lasting regional impact?
Among the standout projects was SportLink, a platform designed to reimagine how young people connect with local sport through volunteering.
Meet the Team
Yannis Wong
Master of Data Science
Linh Pham
Master of Data Science
Corey McSweeney
Bachelor of Information Technology (Computer Science)
Together, Yannis, Linh and Corey combined their technical expertise and passion for community impact to design a solution that tackles two challenges at once: the barriers young people face in sport participation, and the struggle local clubs experience in finding reliable volunteers.
From Idea to Impact: A Volunteer-First Model
SportLink began with a simple but powerful concept: what if volunteering itself could unlock access to sport?
Their platform connects young people with volunteering opportunities at local sporting events. In return, volunteers earn reward points that can be redeemed for items like event tickets, public transport, or sport registration fees.
This flips the traditional volunteering model, turning it into a rewarding, career-building experience for young people while helping sporting clubs access the support they need.
This insight led to a major pivot, a real-world example of why listening to end users and validating assumptions early is critical in innovation.
The Solution: A Digital Platform for Access and Inclusion
SportLink’s MVP features an automated resume generator that captures and presents a young person’s volunteering history, giving them tangible evidence of their skills and experience to support future career development.
By linking volunteering with tangible benefits, SportLink reduces financial barriers to sport, strengthens community connections, and builds sustainable pathways for participation.
Why It Matters
SportLink is designed with impact in mind:
• Accessibility – Reducing cost barriers for young people wanting to engage in sport
• Community Strengthening – Helping grassroots clubs secure reliable volunteer support
• Youth Empowerment – Equipping young volunteers with documented skills and experience
• Scalability – A model that can grow across different sports and communities
This innovation could transform how communities think about volunteering, sport participation, and pathways for youth engagement.
The Impact of the ProtoComp Experience
The SportLink team used ProtoComp to validate their idea, test prototypes with real users, and refine their platform design with direct industry feedback. Highlights included:
• Real-world testing with volunteer groups
• Feedback that shaped the reward system and platform features
• Confidence and direction to take the idea further
Looking Ahead
With their prototype validated, the team is focused on developing a full MVP and partnering with clubs and sporting bodies to pilot SportLink in the field.
Their vision is clear – to make volunteering a gateway to sport for every young person, breaking down financial and social barriers to participation.
