26 July 2012 | Tennis Victoria

The Sports Education and Development Australia (SEDA) program is an excellent sporting initiative that provides early school leavers with the opportunity to remain in mainstream education whilst still earning a nationally recognised sport and recreation qualification.  I personally was not very fond of the school environment. The fact remains that I was quite effective at producing good quality work but did not enjoy being in that environment and this is where SEDA really helped me out.

I have currently been with SEDA for 18 months in which time I have secured a Certificate III in Sport and Recreation and have started my Certificate IV qualification in 2012. The SEDA group provides an excellent support structure along with Tennis Victoria that allows students to achieve the best possible results out of every task they undertake.

SEDA’s collaboration with Tennis Victoria has personally been one of fruitful benefits; I have established many contacts within the sport and recreation industry. I have strived to better myself in any way possible and Tennis Victoria has been excellent in providing the opportunities where they cater to my individual needs and add to Tennis Victoria at the same time.

The best opportunity I have been given involves Tennis Victoria’s workplace positions for SEDA students. These positions provide an unprecedented look into how the sport runs as a business and how you can further develop you skills to increase your chance of gaining employment in the industry. I chose to undertake my workplace position with Tennis Victoria for a second consecutive year as it is my belief they provide the best training to assist my career aspirations. My long-term goal is to be in a managerial role of a private consultancy firm which helps in the building and production of tennis clubs in the state of Victoria.

Along with these experiences there are also the volunteer events that we attend at various venues/clubs around the state. These visits deliver what, I feel is a very personalised experience where we actually get to go out and meet the members of each individual club and see how each undertake their operations. These experiences are invaluable, as I personally had no idea about any of these aspects in both sport and business before I began this course. It has been a real eye opener!

Ashley Seeley is a participant in the SEDA and Tennis Victoria Sports Development Program. The SEDA program works with Tennis Victoria to offer students the opportunity to combine their passion for tennis with an education pathway through the Sport and Recreation industry.