{"id":21716,"date":"2026-05-20T14:13:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T06:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=21716"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:13:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T06:13:48","slug":"tennis-west-hits-the-east-kimberley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2026\/05\/20\/tennis-west-hits-the-east-kimberley","title":{"rendered":"Tennis West Hits the East Kimberley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After the success of last year\u2019s regional roadshow to the West Kimberley, Tennis West\u2019s regional roadshow continued with the participation team bringing tennis to remote schools and communities across the East Kimberley region and reaching towns such as Kununurra, Wyndham, Warmun and Halls Creek\u00a0last week.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The journey covered over\u00a01,000\u00a0kilometres\u00a0in four\u00a0days and delivered tennis to more than\u00a0300\u00a0students\u00a0across five schools, with\u00a062% of participants identifying as First Nations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the trip was based in Kununurra\u00a0with the first day seeing the team take the\u00a0one hour\u00a0trip north to Wyndham\u00a0to run tennis activations to three classes\u00a0and 36 students\u00a0at Wyndham District High School and two classes\u00a0of 30 students\u00a0at St Josephs Primary School.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The students ranged from\u00a0pre-primary\u00a0to as old as Year 9, with the participation team delivering engaging and interactive\u00a0activations based on the student’s skill levels.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That evening, Tennis West and Kununurra Tennis Club hosted the East Kimberley Regional Talent Series\u00a0for local 13\u00a0years\u00a0and under players. The Regional Talent Series was created off the back of feedback from regional stakeholders and the Tennis West Regional Working Group,\u00a0identifying\u00a0the need for further talent identification and tournament pathways.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jibril Sankoh\u00a0took top honours defeating finalist\u00a0Blake\u00a0Gray\u00a0which saw a total of 13 entrants. The\u00a0winners\u00a0in each region\u00a0will be invited to a\u00a0two-day talent ID camp in Perth at the State Tennis Centre.\u00a0There was also a category for over 13 years old players which saw Jasper Phillips defeat Felix Bunny, however they\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0qualify for the ID camp.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tennis West also\u00a0ran a volunteer upskilling session on\u00a0the Monday\u00a0night with four participants\u00a0as well as a club meeting audit with the Kununurra Tennis Club.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next day saw the team head to East Kimberley College in Kununurra for a full day of teaching tennis to\u00a0four\u00a0classes.\u00a0The team saw over\u00a070\u00a0students across the four sessions, with some picking up the tennis racquet for the first time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team was back at Kununurra Tennis Club that\u00a0evening for\u00a0a full evening of coaching and activations. There was a red ball and orange ball group session before delivering a coaching lesson\u00a0to the green ball\u00a0and yellow ball\u00a0groups.\u00a0Across the four classes, we saw a total of 35 participants.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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After the three\u00a0coaching\u00a0classes\u00a0the participation team put the adults to work with a high-energy and fun cardio session. It was great to see such\u00a0great numbers\u00a0across the junior coaching sessions and the adult cardio session which saw\u00a016\u00a0participants.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the team hit the road on the way to Halls Creek, stopping at Warmun\u00a0Ngalangangpum\u00a0School\u00a0delivering tennis to 20 students before continuing on to Halls Creek in the afternoon\u00a0for a community\u00a0\u201cCome and Try\u201d session\u00a0which saw over 30 children across the town come and experience tennis,\u00a0some\u00a0the first time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The \u2018Come and Try\u2019 drop-in community sessions run in Halls Creek\u00a0were hugely valuable. Not having a coach based full-time, their exposure and opportunity to play tennis is lower and more infrequent in comparison to the year-round tennis provision in Kununurra.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The final day of the roadshow\u00a0saw\u00a0the team head to Halls Creek\u00a0District High School\u00a0to deliver three classes and 48\u00a0students\u00a0the basics of tennis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was important to build connections with the Shire of Halls Creek and Wyndham East\u00a0Kimberley and the Sport and Recreation Officers in both those locations to ensure they have the equipment and capability to deliver ongoing tennis. The engagement from both communities was fantastic, with\u00a0great numbers\u00a0of kids\u00a0dropping in\u00a0to play under the beautiful Kimberley sunsets.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tennis West Schools and Pathways Officer Charlotte Connon applauded the attitudes of all the participants and reflected on the success of the trip.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fantastic to see the enjoyment and quick improvement\u00a0in the students\u00a0throughout the sessions, as we typically start off sessions doing\u00a0balls\u00a0skills refining their motor skills. This sets the students up for success throughout the session as we progress into more technical and tactical game-based play activities.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t come across one student who wasn\u2019t willing to give tennis a\u00a0go\u00a0and it was great to see the high engagement levels showed by all the participants, with many students wanting to continue playing after their sessions.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to head out to different remote regions throughout the Kimberley and provide opportunities for children and adults within the communities we visited to experience tennis, some for the first time, and to leave them armed with the skills to continue playing is very special,\u201d said Charlotte.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In total, the East Kimberley roadshow delivered 307 total participant engagements across schools,\u00a0clubs\u00a0and community settings, driving strong regional activation and meaningful engagement for each community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The aim of the trip was to work towards tennis being delivered more sustainably across the region starting with seasonal delivery and progressing towards sustainable year-round tennis. By\u00a0identifying\u00a0Champions within the regions, Tennis West\u00a0can help to up-skill, provide equipment and resources, and build the tennis volunteer and coach base across the\u00a0East\u00a0Kimberley, all to support the delivery of sustainable tennis.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tennis West would love to build stronger connections and partnerships with our stakeholders across a wider area within the region to support the continued growth of tennis and participation in the Kimberley, with a big focus on providing opportunities for First Nations people to experience tennis.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tennis West extends its thanks to the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport for its ongoing support of our regional roadshows through the Inclusive Participation Grant.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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

After the success of last year\u2019s regional roadshow to the West Kimberley, Tennis West\u2019s regional roadshow continued with the participation team bringing tennis to remote schools and communities across the East Kimberley region and reaching towns such as Kununurra, Wyndham, Warmun and Halls Creek\u00a0last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6359,"featured_media":21724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}