The fourth edition of the National Indigenous Tennis Carnival (NITC) in Darwin concluded on Sunday, with Wiradjuri tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Tennis NT President and Kamilaroi man Steve Rossingh on hand to present the champions with their trophies.
Celebrating the cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through tennis, the NITC was first launched in 2018 and is an annual four-day event centred around culture, community, tennis, education, and wellbeing.
The championship finals of the NITC saw Giselle Kawane (Cairns, Qld) and Charlie Pade (Coffs Harbour, NSW) claim the 18-and-under girls’ and boys’ titles and Lewis Murray (Castlemaine, Vic) take out the 14-and-under mixed competition. Champions were presented their trophies by 14-time Grand Slam champion Goolagong Cawley.
Team WA finished 7th overall in the Ash Barty Cup and the WA future stars won two rounds out of three. WA’s Mitch Durant won WA’s Deadly Award for his positive and friendly attitude and good sportsmanship winning a money can’t buy experience at this year’s Perth United Cup.
As part of the event and connecting grassroots to Grand Slams, Australian Open ballkid trials were also held across the weekend with 16 First Nations participants from the Carnival to be selected as part of the Australian Open 2024 Ballkid Squad. The selected players will be announced in the coming weeks.
The carnival was action packed with players participating in ballkid trials and match play against other states on court.
When off court, players participated in weaving, painting, laughing yoga and spear throwing all led by local community leaders from Larrakia, Bininj nations and more and were treated to guest appearances from rugby World Cup champion, NITV show host and 2004 national Indigenous sportswoman of the year, Bo de la Cruz on her Deadly Choices that lead to her sporting success and an awesome concert from Barkaa on Saturday.
The carnival concluded with a closing ceremony with WA’s Tia and Angel presenting a racquet they decorated to the Northern Territory team and received a painted racquet from South Australia in return.
Tennis West Inclusion Lead Zara Cavalot praised the WA players on their skill and great sportsmanship.
“Once again NITC brought some of our First Nations Tennis Players together on Larrakia country for a cultural celebration and exchange through tennis. We are so proud of the way they represented WA,” said Zara.
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