The Tennis Australia initiative is continuous to develop and help ladies in neighborhood management positions, in addition to construct the pipeline of our subsequent era of leaders.
Queensland, Australia, 20 August 2024 | Nadia Dimattina
Rebecca Warner has been the Vice President of the College of Queensland (UQ) tennis membership for six years.
As an avid tennis participant herself, beginning out within the UK throughout the 80s with plastic bats and foam balls, tennis has all the time held a particular place in Warner’s coronary heart.
She’s now centered on a brand new undertaking – to extend feminine participation at her membership – by introducing ladies’s social tennis classes.
“We now have traditionally low feminine illustration throughout our packages, and I actually wished to take a look at an initiative that might really enhance these numbers and so I got here up with the thought of girls social tennis to run as soon as a month on a Sunday morning,” Warner defined.
“We name it ‘match and blend’ as a result of we offer refreshments afterwards and invite individuals to really keep after tennis, to have the ability to socialize, to community, to fulfill different individuals.”
And the outcomes are in – the membership has seen a spike within the variety of ladies taking part in tennis. Warner hoped for 15 ladies to attend the primary session when it kicked off in June and was amazed to see greater than 40 flip up. The newest session had greater than 50 ladies take part.
“I didn’t know there was this many ladies taking part in tennis in Brisbane. It has been unbelievable – they simply stored coming. It demonstrated to me that we have been doing one thing proper,” she mentioned.
The thought was sparked from her ‘Key Motion Studying Venture’, an exercise that types a part of Tennis Australia’s Girls Leaders in Tennis program.
Rebecca was one in all 17 ladies from throughout Queensland who graduated final weekend from this system, which is being rolled out nationally.
The Girls Leaders in Tennis program goals to extend the participation of ladies in neighborhood management positions by way of skilled growth, mentorship and networking alternatives.
For Wulli Wulli lady Sharaina Lister, tennis is extra private.
“After I’m on a tennis court docket, it appears like house,” she mentioned.
As president of a rural tennis membership in Rolleston, Lister hopes to cross on her learnings to others in the neighborhood.
“For me, doing this position, it was a factor of, ‘okay if I can do it, then I may also help different youthful generations, not solely simply First Nations however our complete neighborhood’. I wish to assist them with their ardour that they’ve for tennis, and in the event that they wish to not simply play tennis however develop into a coach or a frontrunner I’m more than pleased to help them and push them to attain that,” she defined.
Lister is utilizing her Motion Studying Venture to restructure the clubhouse and future proofing it for generations to return.
“We try to construct one thing higher for not simply the tennis membership, however for the neighborhood so different individuals will love the membership as a lot as what we do and know that they will rent the courts and rent the clubhouse for any type of perform they want,” she mentioned.
“Girls Leaders in Tennis has opened up a doorway to do extra of the packages that’s on the market that Tennis Australia and Queensland have to supply however I may also be encouraging lots of different ladies to partake within the packages too.”
This program is supported by an Australian Sports activities Fee federal authorities grant.
Congratulations to the Queensland 2024 Girls Leaders in Tennis graduates:
Danel Shoeman – Mount Wonderful Tennis Centre
Margaret-Mary Opstelten – Coach at West State Faculty
Tiffany Krogh – Flanders Tennis Membership
Laura Spellacy – Matchpoint Tennis Australia
Kara Curphey – Gold Coast Tennis Membership
Rebecca Warner – College of Queensland Tennis Membership
Naomi Oliver – Queensland Tennis Centre
Michelle Jaggard-Lai – Jaggard Sports activities On-line
Elahe Kia – Seashore Tennis Gold Coast inc.
Dianne White – Texas
Lesley Murree – Emerald District Garden Tennis Assn.
Rebecca Poole – Theodore
Ruth Jones- Rolleston Tennis Membership
Sharaina Lister – Rolleston Tennis Membership
Sheneenah-Lee Schefe – Rolleston Tennis Membership
Lily Walters- InTennis
Amali Gibson- Coolum Seashore Tennis Membership
