The Walanga Muru Indigenous Unigames team.
Walanga Muru, Office of Indigenous Strategy and Macquarie University Sport recently collaborated to send 10 Aboriginal students to the Indigenous Unigames in Brisbane. Here Kate Butler, Manager of Sport Development at the Sport and Aquatic Centre, and Emma Hardcastle, Commonwealth Programs Support Officer at Walanga Muru, talk about their experience working with the students.
Each year Macquarie enters teams into Australian University Sport events, such as the Indigenous Unigames and Eastern University Games. At these events, student athletes compete against other Australian universities across an array of sports.
Walanga Muru recently sent a team of 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to the Indigenous Unigames held at ACU in Brisbane from 26 June to 1 July. Jo Milling, Unisport Coordinator at Macquarie University Sport, partnered with Walanga Muru to coordinate training for the students in basketball, netball, volleyball and touch football.
Student athletes from the Eastern University Games MacWarrior Leadership Team volunteered their time to coach the Indigenous Unigames team, a team of students who had only just met and were unfamiliar with some of the sports.
The games were both fun and competitive, providing students with the opportunity to network with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students across Australia. The team came fourth overall in basketball and was sitting eighth out of 33 teams by the end of the second day. They also came second in their netball and touch football pools.
Student Katena Valastro finished her final semester with a bang by competing in the event. Having now completed her degree, Katena has now herself joined the Walanga Muru team, highlighting the success of the Grow Your Own model presented in Walanga Muru’s Indigenous Strategy Green Paper.
This is an example of how networking opportunities and continuous support for our students can lead to academic progression and fostering successful future employees.
Walanga Muru would like to thank the Widening and Participation Unit for their generous contribution in helping our team attend this important event.
We invite staff to contribute stories – in their own voice – to help celebrate the diversity, passion and collaborative spirit of Macquarie staff.
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