Confidence to Coach, Courage to Officiate

The athletes just love it. I mean, you get to go fast in a wheelchair. Who doesn't want to do that?

The first wheelchair athlete I was coaching, I worked with him for 15 years as a support worker. We were working on trying new things, trying things that will challenge him and broaden his scope on life. And one of them turned out to be um going down to watch the world chair race at the Gold Coast Marathon.

We went down, watched it, and he thought, "Oh, wow. They're going so fast. It's so cool." And then he said the comment, "I'd like to do that." So I went, "Okay, well next year went into the kids race and take it from there."

Yeah. he trained once every fortnight for 2 months. So not much training at all, but he did a 4 km race and he absolutely loved it. Everyone was cheering him on and we took it from there and he ended up racing at national championships and getting records and all sorts. How much he got out of the sport? I thought, well, if he's the only person in Queensland doing it, how many other kids like him would want to do the sport? So, I thought, okay, I need to do something about this.

It's amazing downhill. You know, you can get up to speeds 50, 60 km an hour, only a couple feet off the ground. You need to be skillful so you can control it.

I've got about five athletes at the moment. They're progressing really well. It takes a long time to get the skills. I'd love to have a squad of 10 to 20 athletes coming through to and beyond 2032. And yeah, just expose the sport to people who could do it.

I am not the typical coach that rises up to the ranks and has been playing first. It's more that I noticed that in this area I could make a difference.

The story starts where I met the coach in Latvia who had made a huge difference in people's lives. There was one young person there with learning difficulty to the level where they at the beginning couldn't even speak or communicate with others. One and a half years into the future, this young person plays table tennis, plays it internationally, is able to communicate maybe not in full sentences of course but communicate with his teammates.  Can now easily get himself to the training and get ready for it. That really inspired me. So in Australia then I decided to take on coach training to be involved with it to see what can be done.

Coaching table tennis in this case is just a pathway. It's just a tool and it's very much a sport where two people connect for learning, for getting better, for building community.

I am still at the beginning of this. We can each make a difference if we set out to. That lights me up. That makes me feel that this is all worth it.

I'm just fighting for an opportunity, but also while supporting my colleagues to have their own as well.

I've been an official now for 10 years. Um, I gave up playing when I was 15. For me, it's the opportunities that it gives you and being able to give back to the game. My goal is to reach the top level. So, I'm sort of inspired by those who walk before me and people are pushing me. My mentors have been so incredible to sort of push me along and show me the pathway that they've taken and I'm trying to chase after that essentially,

The reduce abuse campaign came along at a time where we had multiple instances of referee abuse in the one weekend. People were physically threatened. Referees were getting death threats at the grounds. People were making sort of racial slur comments. For me as a match official and a leader in this space, I can do my part. Educating players, team officials, coaches on correct behaviours and through the role of empathy and bit of education on the laws, the reduce abuse I think was the mouthpiece essentially to open these conversations.

I'm currently a mentor of one of the kids in the academy program, helping him come through the ranks of the junior national Premier Leagues and hoping to transition him to senior football.

Mentoring is crucial because uh I would have left the game. You cop so much when you're out there without people pushing me and saying that you are good. Don't listen to what the other people are saying. We're such a tight-knit community full of likemindeds and we're here for one purpose which is obviously passion and love for the game and just to make football a better place for everyone.

Officiating for me is all about connection. It's all about the storytelling. It's all about the grassroots. That's exactly what Indigenous culture is about.

Representation is everything. There's not many officiators, Indigenous officiators.

Becoming the president of Northern Basketball Association was simply because the previous Committee were disengaging. We would have a percentage of just under 2% of Indigenous members. So, breaking down those barriers and being a strong leader and the voice of those Ballardong players and members. Firstly, the first thing that you want to do when you go to another country, like Indigenous we say you know country for different ways, you know.  So for me, I need to go and introduce myself to the Elders that are there, so I've gained the trust of those Elders, and it was amazing to see the difference.  When they walk into the Centre now, they are relaxed, it's a really relaxed environment and I love that.  I will do what I have to do in order to ensure that those kids feel welcome to come in.  That they're not going to be judged when they walk through the door ‘cos they don't got no shoes. So, representation is everything. It's showing that those, that there is a possibility there, something that they may not have even noticed.

The idea of picking up coaching full-time is to earn much more, more and more smiling faces by providing playing opportunities to the community.

Badminton is not just a sport, it's a way of life for me. Before Covid when I was working as a state coach, my coaching objective was entirely different where I was focusing on building up classes. But then Covid changed everything and sports stopped. So, me and my wife we decided let's go out and reach our community and provide them some opportunity where they can remain physically active. So, we realized that we are earning more smiles than what we used to earn earlier. So, building up a broader base is actually more contention and happiness in our job. So that's why we shifted to this one.

A family is driven by the parents, so if we can give something to the parents to have a hit then definitely the entire family is out playing and then it doesn't become a sport for one individual in the in the family, then it becomes it's not just a sport it's a way of life.  And then that's how we can build up a small community and it keeps on multiplying.

Badminton is the world's second most popular sport in terms of actual number of people playing the sport. You can play at the slowest level possible which means that it is all inclusive. I have run a couple of programs for intellectually disabled and also for physically disabled people. This game is quite adaptable and can do wonders. They need to figure out initially a bit of a hand eye coordination once you once they achieve it and they can enjoy it the way they want it. Whether it is playing on your own self or playing together with a mate or playing as a group. I felt that I'm I have given them a sport for life. That gives me a drive to go on for the next session and go with the same patient.

Another day in paradise. Hopefully we have made some difference in the lives of families and young kids, and now time to get up for tomorrow.

When I was growing up, I played rugby league and I had to wear a headgear because I played with the boys. So, I wasn't allowed to identify as a girl or a female.

Yeah, in reflection and having conversations and understanding what was really going on. It was more about, yeah. trying to hide that, you know, a female was playing with boys or a girl was playing with boys.

Looking back now, um you know, still as a 30-year-old female involved in in sport, I face barriers like that. Um, and it's really important for me to break those barriers down and make sure that the next generation coming through don't have to deal with similar situations like that.

I wear many hats. I'm the president of the Junior Rugby Union Club. Last year alone, I coached five Club teams. I also run a free Academy for girls aged 10 to 18. It's called Empower Rugby Academy, empowering young females to be confident both on and off the rugby field. you know, girls often aren't confident in, you know, the physical interaction. So, it's building those skills as well, but again, a lot of that is making sure that off the field, as I said, that, you know, they're empowered to be confident, to be leaders, know what opportunities are available, and just taking those opportunities with both hands and making the most of it.

Anyone's capable. I also run a disabled modified rugby program. We have players with ASD, ADHD, Down syndrome.  There's people that have physical and intellectual disabilities. Obviously, we run a modified rugby program. So, part of that is empowering them to feel like they are valued, you know, they are important members.

A lot of the families had said, you know, I had no idea that my child could catch or pass or run or, you know, score a try. And for me, you know, I'm smiling now, but it's like those kids have always been able to do that they've just never been given the opportunity for me to play that part and provide those opportunities.

I feel really empowered, really grateful and really privileged to be a part of young athletes and females’ life and play a small part as a coach.

I get this light bulb moment on court, you just go, "Yes." And they're like, they shine, and it's like, "Oh my goodness."

All kids deserve the opportunity to be able to play in a safe environment and have that freedom of space, of shining somewhere in life, you know.

So, we changed our competition around a little bit. We cater our basketball around the kids rather than making the kids fit that mould of basketball.

Normally, your basketball runs in an age division. So you're either under twelves, under 14, so on and so forth. We've got new kids to town that have never played basketball before. So rather than them being like 17 year olds throwing them in an under 18 high intensity kind of age group, they've got the potential to go okay, whilst you're not physically dominant, you've got the skills, but how about we pop you in an under 16 age group where you're still with the same sort of age of kids. So they'll be in like a division two for instance so that they can learn, grow, and develop at their own speed while not under the pressure of, "Oh my god, I've made a mistake."

We've got some kids that have different needs. I've refereed games where you know that there's kids out there that are that little bit different, whether they're neurodivergent or whether they're shy and they've got their own social anxieties within themselves. And it's not a case of modifying the game just to suit them but maybe allowing the flexibility to include them also.

Oh, they shine. Watching those kids shine, you know, where they'll get passed the ball and they'll get the ability to score and the whole crowd erupts because all of a sudden that one kid that normally wouldn't be able to score gets that opportunity to go, yes.

Knowing that you can make a difference.  Knowing that you're opening up pathways to kids that may not have that opportunity.  Knowing that you're providing somewhere where that kid can go, I can do that. Watching that, you get goosebumps, you know.