{"id":40869,"date":"2025-01-30T22:32:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T11:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=40869"},"modified":"2025-01-30T23:17:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T12:17:31","slug":"community-hero-at-12-years-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2025\/01\/30\/community-hero-at-12-years-old","title":{"rendered":"Community Hero at 12 Years Old"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wahgunyah Tennis Club\u2019s own Hugh Bergin<\/strong> has been making moves on and off the court, earning the highly coveted Indigo Shire’s Young Person of the Year<\/strong> award for 2025. At just 12 years old, Hugh has already established himself as a community hero through his incredible dedication to raising funds for breast cancer research with his annual tournament, Racquets Against Breast Cancer<\/em> (RABC)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The RABC tournament, which Hugh first organised at just 11 years old, has become a standout event in the Wahgunyah community. A Fast4 doubles competition at its heart, the tournament also offers family-fun activities like raffles, face painting, a BBQ, and a radar gun challenge for tennis enthusiasts eager to test their serving speed. This combination of fun and philanthropy has captured the hearts of locals and tennis fans alike.<\/p>\n

Last year the inaugural RABC tournament was an overwhelming success, raising over $3,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The community\u2019s enthusiasm hasn\u2019t wavered since, and the event has now raised a combined total of more than $6,500 in its two years.<\/p>\n

The upcoming 2025 edition of RABC is set for 2 March, and excitement is already building as Hugh prepares to surpass previous fundraising milestones. With support from Wahgunyah Tennis Club, local businesses, and community members, Hugh\u2019s passion project is inspiring others to join the fight against breast cancer.<\/p>\n

Hugh\u2019s selflessness and leadership haven\u2019t gone unnoticed. Back in May 2023, he was named Tennis Victoria\u2019s Community Champion of the Month, and in 2024, he was a finalist for Tennis Victoria\u2019s Volunteer of the Year award. These accolades highlight the impact Hugh has made in his community, not just as a young tennis player, but as a changemaker dedicated to creating a positive legacy.<\/p>\n

Hugh\u2019s motivation comes from a personal place. With breast cancer affecting his family, he wanted to take action. What started as an idea has now become a cherished annual community tradition, with the tournament becoming a platform for raising awareness, and support for breast cancer research.<\/p>\n

Hugh\u2019s journey is a testament to the power of community-driven initiatives. With each tournament, he continues to inspire those around him, proving that age is no barrier to making a meaningful impact.<\/p>\n

As Wahgunyah prepares for another unforgettable Racquets Against Breast Cancer<\/em> tournament, we also want to take the chance to celebrate Hugh as a young leader, a role model, and a champion for his community.<\/p>\n

Mark your calendars for 2 March, 2025 and join Hugh and Wahgunyah Tennis Club in their mission to rally against breast cancer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hugh Bergin from Wahgunyah Tennis Club has been crowned Indigo Young Person of the Year for 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6423,"featured_media":40877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,1,56],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-40869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news","category-reward-recognition","tag-recognition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40869","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=40869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}