Living in Harmony Community Grants 1999

New South Wales

Albury Netball Association

Indigenous Participation - Team and/or Individually in Local Netball Competitions

$12,500 Awarded

Aims

This project, now completed, by the Albury Netball Association (ANA), which previously had had little contact with young Indigenous people, has aimed to:

reach out to and instruct local Indigenous youth about netball to motivate their involvement in the sport as players, supporters, coaches, umpires and administrators
dispel the lack of cultural understanding amongst both Indigenous and non-Indigenous players
guide the present Association membership and other members in the competition to a positive view of the aims, format and progress of the project
promote sport as a method of education and motivation as a basis for interaction between Indigenous youth and the wider community
use the enjoyable social atmosphere of the sporting field to instil codes of sporting behaviour and co-operative social behaviour
provide coaching, administrative, financial, organisational and social assistance to improve interaction between Indigenous youth and the wider community

Activities

Directly team-related activities

The project:

arranged that:

a "Living in Harmony " team played in the local netball competition
representatives of the players travelled to Melbourne to participate in the Annual Indigenous Knockout Competition (2000)
the LIH team represented New South Wales at the National Indigenous Netball and Football Carnival in Adelaide in November 2001
the team participated in the VAYSAR (Victorian Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation Cooperative) Football-Netball Carnival in 1999 in Moama and 2000 in Melbourne

eventually successfully established direct contacts with local Indigenous groups, after initial difficulties of:

not knowing of the existence of some separate groups
discovering lack of communication/information-sharing between the groups

Broader-focused activities

The project:

held a successful LIH Carnival including other sporting associations, brought over 3000 Indigenous people to area and had excellent media coverage in local paper
through the Carnival won a (rare) commendation from local police for exemplary conduct of all participants and audience
noted significant improvement in terms of knowledge of project and appreciation of its aims shown between the project’s surveys in 1999 and 2001
was nominated to contribute to the AMP Journey of a Nation travelling show to celebrate the Centenary of Federation and the International Year of the Volunteer

Outcomes

The project:

has increased Indigenous participation in sport, and will work further towards:

maintaining this, to prevent the original interest waning
expanding on this by persuading the Indigenous players to overcome their diffidence and join in the extension activities of umpiring, committee membership and other leadership roles

fostered positive attitudes between the Indigenous and other players, and found the Indigenous players’ continuing good spirits were an asset to the club
overcame through personal contact a lack of local media interest in "female" sport and also LIH, when seeking publicity for the project
attracted keen ongoing interest from the National Aboriginal Sports Council of Australia to work with the ANA on ways of furthering opportunities for Indigenous netballers
has noted the opinions from local bodies that the Carnival has real potential to help dispel negative racial stereotypes and to improve Indigenous participation in sport
has made Association members aware of the project and the LIH values, especially through the positive attitudes of the Indigenous players themselves, with hopes that the members may spread these attitudes in the general community, now that they have had personal contacts through the club