{"id":40355,"date":"2025-01-15T05:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T18:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=40355"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:07:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T19:07:55","slug":"tennis-vic-buldau-yioohgen-pathway-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2025\/01\/15\/tennis-vic-buldau-yioohgen-pathway-to-success","title":{"rendered":"Tennis Vic & Buldau Yioohgen: Pathway to Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennis Victoria, in collaboration with Buldau Yioohgen (BY) and Anglicare Victoria has achieved remarkable success by fostering opportunities for young First Nations people through tennis. Buldau Yioohgen, meaning “Big Dreams,” is a leadership and cultural program delivered by Anglicare Victoria that empowers First Nations youth through mentoring, cultural connection, and pathways in education, employment, and community leadership. This partnership played a crucial role in providing a platform for young individuals to excel both on and off the court.<\/span><\/p>\n

This collaboration saw 20 children from rural, regional, and metropolitan Victoria participate in the National Indigenous Tennis Carnival (NITC) in Darwin. These talented participants showcased their skills and spirit by winning the prestigious Ash Barty Cup, a testament to their hard work and the support of the program.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the stories of success in the program can be traced further back to AO24 (Australian Open 2024) where<\/span>\u00a0Tahlia, a participant from the BY Leadership Program, embarked on her next chapter by working at the event. Reflecting on her experience, Tahlia shared, \u201c<\/em>I feel very lucky to be able to be a part of the Buldau Yioohgen last year. It was such amazing experience going out on country and learning about my culture. Not a lot of Aboriginal kids get this opportunity, so I feel very grateful.”<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>Today, she continues to inspire others as an employee at Tennis Victoria in the Competitive Play team, embodying the pathway\u2019s success. “I feel very proud to be the first Aboriginal staff member to work at Tennis Victoria,<\/span>\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Tahlia said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Building on this momentum, 11 young First Nations applicants have secured positions at this year’s AO25. These individuals, after refining their CVs, submitting applications to Tennis Australia, and attending the AO Assessment Day, were selected to work in roles such as Retail, Customer Experience, and assisting with \u2018Kids on Court.\u2019 Their achievements underscore the impact of such structured pathways and dedicated mentorship that BY provide.<\/span><\/p>\n

The accomplishments of these young people were made possible through the unwavering support of Cultural Leads Aunty Kellie Hunter (Wurundjeri) and Uncle Les Corlett (Wiradjuri and Gunditjmara). The Darrango yan-dhan Cultural Centre in East Melbourne, meaning \u201cYoung Walking Together\u201d in Woi Wurrung, has provided a welcoming home base for the children during their two-week AO work experience. Uncle Les Corlett shared,\u00a0“to see the young people being excited before and after playing tennis is why I do my job. The smiles on their faces are priceless. Thanks Tennis Vic and Tennis Australia for giving them the opportunity”.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Adam Watson, Inclusion Lead at Tennis Victoria, emphasised the broader goals of the initiative: \u201cThis partnership showcases the incredible potential of First Nations youth when provided with the right opportunities and support. It\u2019s inspiring to see young people excel and lead in their communities. The success of this initiative is especially promising for our goals to establish a squad of First Nations Ball kids from Victoria and to increase First Nations representation in our Tournament Officials team, catering for all ages from children through to adults.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The partnership between Tennis Victoria, BY, and Anglicare Victoria continues to exemplify the power of collaboration in creating opportunities and pathways for First Nations youth. By integrating cultural leadership with professional development and athletic opportunities, this initiative is shaping the next generation of leaders and champions on and off the court.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are interested to find out more about the NITC program, click here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a> to find out more about what Team Vic got up to this year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please fill out the form\u00a0here<\/a> to express your interest in learning more about playing opportunities\u00a0for First Nations people, those who are culturally or racially marginalised.<\/p>\n

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Travis Atkinson Morgan \u2013 Yorta Yorta \/ Wurundjeri<\/p><\/div>\n

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Owen Clarke –\u00a0Yorta Yorta<\/p><\/div>\n

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Kolysha Taylor –\u00a0Yorta Yorta\/ Gunai Kurnai \/ Dja Dja Wurrung<\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The partnership between Tennis Victoria, BY, and Anglicare Victoria exemplifies creates opportunities and pathways for First Nations youth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6423,"featured_media":40358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,1],"tags":[104],"class_list":["post-40355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news","tag-inclusion-and-diversity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}