From Grand Slam to grassroots, Tennis Australia is investing back into the community through the AO Community Grants program.
During the past 12 months, Tennis Australia has invested in community tennis programs which focus on improving diversity and inclusion across Australia.
Grange Tennis Club, Hackham West Community Centre, Somerton Park Tennis Club and Meningie Tennis Club were recently announced as AO Community Grants recipients.
Grange Tennis Club aims to use the grant to run a tennis program for their cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) community. The program by Grange Tennis Club is in its eighth year, and has seen great success with CALD youth and families.
The aim of the program is to improve individuals and families knowledge of the opportunities that are available to them within the community and strengthen their links with their own community as well as the broader Australian community.
Aref Ahmadi helped apply for the grant after coming through the program himself – watch his journey here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JZ_9gJrWwQ
If you, or someone you know may be interested in the Grange CALD Tennis Program please contact David Grainger on 0431 906 403.
Hackham West Community Centre started running the tennis program after identifying that socioeconomic status was a major barrier for families wanting to enroll their kids in sport. The centre, in conjunction with Hackham Tennis Club. aims to use the grant to further benefit their existing community based program and to help deliver ANZ Tennis Hot Shots with local coaches on Wednesday’s and Saturday’s.
If you, or someone you know may be interested in the Hackham West Community Centre tennis program please contact Tanya Haverland on 8384 1065.
Somerton Park Tennis Club is passionate about ensuring youth with vision impairments are given the same opportunities as everyone else. The club referenced the great work that Victoria has done to ensure inclusion of vision impaired youth in their state, and highlighted the goal to reach a similar standard through increasing opportunities for individuals with vision impairments to get involved.
Somerton Park Tennis Club applied for the recent AO Community Grant to help continue to deliver a free Blind Tennis program at the local South Australia School for the Vision Impaired, and for those interested, provide additional after school coaching
If you, or someone you know may be interested in playing tennis, please contact Nicholas Bradley from Somerton Park Tennis Club on 0438 801 967.
In 2016 Meningie Tennis Club decided to come back from a 10 year recess to help provide the local community with access to tennis within the town.
The club decided to apply for this community grant after identifying the need to purchase new resources for the facility to ensure they could run the programs properly for their new member base. Another issue identified highlighted the areas low socio-economic status, so the club wanted to ensure that members who may not necessarily be able to afford full-cost tennis programs, could still get involved at a subsidised cost.
If you, or someone you know may be interested in playing tennis, please contact Jo Williams from the Meningie Tennis Club on 0418 855 962.
Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley believes a focus on community is essential to ensure tennis remains accessible for everyone.
“AO Community Grants are a great way to directly support programs that are working to improve the health and wellbeing of diverse communities across Australia,” Mr Tiley said.
“Being able to invest back into the community highlights the wider impact that the Australian Open has on local sporting groups.
“We all know the positive impact tennis can have on communities across Australia and how it can be used as a vehicle to connect and engage those who can face participation barriers.
“Successful applicants were chosen because they demonstrated a willingness to undertake projects which deliver tennis opportunities to communities in inclusive and engaging ways.”
Tennis Australia introduced the AO Community Grants program to help strengthen inclusion and diversity throughout the sport.
The grants range in value from $5,000 to $10,000 and are awarded to applicants who focus on delivering programs to communities in need.
A new round of AO Community Grants are now open until 31 August 2017.
For further information on the AO Community Grants program, please visit: tennis.com.au/about-tennis-australia/tennis-cares/community-grants.
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