Every year our national day falls within the Australian Open period – the biggest sporting event in the world in January. This year Australia Day coincides with the Women\u2019s Final.<\/p>\n
On Saturday 26 January 2013, a select number of community tennis clubs will throw their gates open for free and host tennis themed community and multi-cultural celebrations.<\/p>\n
In 2013, the partnership between the Federal Government and Tennis Australia will take the first step in what is planned to be a five year program. \u00a0The Melbourne Park events will be replicated at four community tennis clubs across the country, Sunshine Park (Vic), Grange Lawn (SA)<\/strong>, Chatswood (NSW) and Melba (ACT).<\/p>\n Grange Lawn Tennis Club<\/strong> Australia Day Multicultural Tennis Celebrations will be opened by Kirsten Alexander, Mayor of Charles Sturt<\/strong> to speak, followed by Steve Georganas, Federal Member for Hindmarsh. From 4.00pm kids will be entertained with a Jumping Castle and have the opportunity to participate in MLC Tennis Hot Shots program.\u00a0 BBQ will be supplied to all who attend and families are welcome to also bring a plate of their cultural food for all to share.<\/p>\n Member for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas<\/strong> said, \u201cThe Gillard Government recognises the power of sport to build stronger communities and is providing $100,000 in funding to support the new initiative.<\/p>\n \u201cAustralia Day is a national celebration of our shared identity and our common values which bind us together as Australians.<\/p>\n \u201cThis new initiative capitalises on the power of sport to strengthen communities and aims to encourage neighbours from diverse backgrounds to come together over a game of tennis.<\/p>\n \u201cThis Australia day I encourage all Australians to embrace the spirit of the day and play a match of tennis. Having a hit at your local club is one of the best ways to forge friendships and build stronger community connections.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMembership of the Grange Lawn Tennis Club reflects our community\u2019s wonderful diversity and the club is well renowned for fostering a welcoming atmosphere for all new members.\u201d said Georganas.<\/p>\n Melbourne Park will also hold a special Australia Day celebration, hosting a diverse group of Australian families in a specifically created local tennis club atmosphere, featuring fun tennis activities such as MLC Tennis Hot Shots, Cardio Tennis, other on-court activities, a free BBQ and live music and entertainment. The Melbourne Park event will feature a citizenship ceremony to welcome a new family to Australia.<\/p>\n Special guest at the ceremony will be the Minister for Sport and<\/strong> Multicultural Affairs, Senator Kate Lundy<\/strong> and Australian Open tennis stars.<\/p>\n In future years, hundreds of tennis clubs throughout Australia will become the hub for celebrations every Australia Day, all taking place against a background of tennis based leisure activities available to all – families, seniors, people with a disability and in particular, to our multicultural communities.<\/p>\n Beyond even these community congregations, tennis themed Australia Day celebrations will be evident in the backyards and streets of towns and suburbs all over the nation.<\/p>\n So make sure you \u2018Do Something Australian on Australia Day – Play Tennis at Grange Lawn Tennis Club.<\/strong> The gates are open from 4.00pm and all are welcome. For further media information \u00a0please contact: A community tennis celebration on Australia\u2019s National day at Grange Lawn Tennis Club. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5915,"featured_media":5340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>Anne-Marie Handke, Tennis SA \u00a0(08) 7224 8100<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"