Shooting Stars and Netball WA have joined forces to form the inaugural Aboriginal All Stars Leadership Camp which will guide the Black Diamonds project thanks to Sport Australia’s 2021 Women Leaders in Sport grant and the Gold Industry Group.
Bringing together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) athletes and coaches from across Western Australia, the camp creates opportunities for potential elite ATSI women and girls to build their capacity as leaders in the sport, and to grow their potential both professionally and personally whilst exposing them to ATSI role models on and off the court.
The Aboriginal All Stars finished the camp by competing in the State Cup, stepping out wearing a dress designed by Shooting Stars staff and Noongar Ballardong women, Jade McGuire and Talicia Jetta. The dress design depicts and represents Indigenous culture through symbols and colour.
Featuring seven ‘person’ symbols, the design represents the seven players on the netball court, as well as lines and circles symbolising the different waterways that run through each region in WA, showing how they all connect to a common place and is about bringing our people together through culture, community and celebrating Indigenous perspectives.
During the camp the athletes and coaches participated in a yarning circle facilitated by Jade McGuire and Talicia Jetta, which explored their experiences with netball, the barriers and challenges they’ve faced in the sport and what solutions can be put in place, following a warm-up brainstorm activity lead by Sharon Finnan-White OAM.
The research from these yarns will contribute to the Black Diamonds project, which aims to review netball service delivery and ensure that policies and systems of netball in WA are transformed to better facilitate the engagement and retention of Aboriginal people to the sport of netball.
The Black Diamonds Project research design and methodological framework are predominantly based on Indigenous principles and practices, grounded in relatedness theory, while combining Indigenous and non-Indigenous data collection and processing methods. This research will comprise three phases of data collection and analysis across four stakeholder groups, Grassroots Participants, Potential Elite Pathway Participants, Existing Elite Pathway Participants and Netball WA Clubs and Associations.
If you identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and want to be involved in how netball can better facilitate the engagement and retention of Aboriginal people, click here and have your say.
