“Tennis is a great way to get involved in sport and these programs are what allows it to happen for a lot of people.”
Partnering with the Edmund Rice Centre WA, Tennis West has recently been facilitating a Saturday morning program at Nollamara Tennis Club, delivered by local coaches, for a group of young Indigenous girls to provide them with a new experience and help them be active and meet others. Edmund Rice Centre staff drive the participants to the club every Saturday morning to take part in a two-hour session where they learn new tennis skills, improve their fitness and gain insights from those working in the sporting industry.
The Edmund Rice Centre WA is an organisation that seeks to empower the lives of people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, through education and development of community, with a particular emphasis on young people and youth leadership as a way of ensuring a positive future for all. The Centre runs a range of programs for young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to provide them with new opportunities.
The tennis program has helped the participants, who were all new to tennis, develop new skills, grow their confidence, be active and gain a love for the sport. Local coaches, Edmund Rice Centre program coordinators and Tennis West staff have all worked together to deliver a fun, engaging and meaningful program.
Tennis West Club Development Officer – Metro North Zara Cavalot, who led the facilitation of the program, said the importance of accessibility and opportunity was paramount.
“Young people’s access to tennis and a diverse range of sport is really important to me,” said Zara.
“Sometimes it can be costly to try different sports so I always look for ways that mean everyone can have a go at tennis.”
Aiming to create inclusive opportunities for all and connect with a diverse range of young people, Tennis West established the partnership with the understanding that tennis can be used as a vehicle for positive growth and leadership development—key objectives of the Edmund Rice Centre.
“Tennis as a sport is quite different to other mainstream sports in that it isn’t a team sport with a big ball that you throw or kick,” said Zara.
“It offers unique skills and we have excellent coaches who can deliver this at an introductory level in a fun and engaging way. Tennis is expanding its playing base, working on increasing the amount of girls that play, and after Ash Barty’s Aus Open win, it was vital to us to ensure that Indigenous Australians had access to a positive tennis experience.”
“This program was a peak ‘tennis for all’ moment,” Zara added.
Watch the video below to learn more:
More about Edmund Rice Centre WA:
The Edmund Rice Centre WA was established in 1998 to provide essential settlement services and community education activities and the Centre’s services have since expanded more widely throughout Perth with an emphasis on young people and youth leadership as a way of ensuring a positive future for all.
The Edmund Rice Centre WA is recognized as one of Australia’s leading service providers by community groups, government and other agencies in the field. The Centre offers grass roots services that consistently help address unmet needs in the community. Each year, the Centre interacts with around 3,000 people of all ages and backgrounds, providing a range of programs such as language classes, housing assistance and youth sports training programs. The Centre’s vision is to enable people to feel included, be active participants and make a positive contribution to society.
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