The Western Region Academy of Sport hosted over 130 students from 18 different schools for the annual Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Talent Identification Day.
Held across two locations this year at Orange PCYC (Wednesday 7th May) and Dubbo Christian School (Wednesday 21st May), these events were made possible by the incredible support of Underwriting Agencies Australia (UAA) and were another success highlighting the tremendous talent throughout the Western region.
Students were participated in a range of sporting stations designed to demonstrate their sporting abilities with the program providing a wide selection of sports including Athletics, Basketball, Rugby League/Rugby Union & Netball. Each station was lead by local regional coaches who assessed sport-specific skills and other sporting indicators to help identify potential future WRAS scholarship holders. We would like to thank all the coaches who volunteered their time to coordinate these days: Athletics – Kate Lynch (Level 3 Performance Development Athletics Coach) & Mark Penman; Basketball – Jamahl Zegzula (WRAS Basketball Assistant Coach) & Amelia Raidaveta; Rugby League – Kurt Hancock (Senior Squad Western Rams Coach/ Boys To The Bush); Rugby Union – Janalee Conroy (NSW Rugby Union Development Officer Western Plains) & Lakeisha Hull (NSW Rugby Union); Netball – Brooke Berg (Regional Manager West/Central West), Karen Weekes & Natasha Robinson (WRAS Netball Assistant Coaches). We would also like to thank Meleisa Cox Aboriginal Art for designing this year’s uniform.
The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Talent Identification Day forms part of a wider initiative to identify potential WRAS scholarship holders and offer identified athletes the opportunity to trial for a spot in our WRAS programs. The list of identified athletes can be here.