More than 80 of Western Sydney’s aspiring Indigenous athletes headed to Western Sydney University in Kingswood on 29 August 2023 to attend our UAA Indigenous Talent Identification Day.

It was a brilliant and sunny day in Kingswood, showcased with strength and conditioning, Athlete testing, Netball, Volleyball, Speed & Agility, Rowing, Cycling, and Golf. Our athletes enjoyed an introduction to these sports and participated in them to showcase their abilities.

Thanks to our program partners UAA and Western Sydney University, we can showcase this event to identify athletes with specific skills and personal qualities that may lead them to become high-performance athletes as part of our Academy programming.

Helping us identify these athletes and skills was help from State Sporting Organisations who helped on the day. A big thank you to Volleyball NSW, AusCycling, Netball NSW, Nepean Rowing Club, Academy of Sport Speed Australia, and Jack Newton Junior Golf who assisted our WSAS Coaches in identifying talent.

Special mentions go out to the following who helped us throughout the day:

• Sarah Kennedy from Western Sydney University and her team of research students who assisted in the conduction of testing.

• Our guest speakers for the day: Andrew Bennie, Andrew Fraser, and Dean Norris.

• Rebecca Di Cello from NSWIS representing AusCycling.

• Heath Canning representing Jack Newton Junior Golf.

• Samantha May representing Netball NSW.

• Filip Zapala and Chris Todd representing Volleyball NSW; and

• Ranell and Kip Hobson representing the Academy of Sport Speed Australia.

We would also like to thank our Academy coaches for all their help and assistance on the day:

• Daniel Waddell (Nepean Rowing Club).

• Kerrie Wallace and Renee Cini (Netball).

• Kevin Sturgiss (Volleyball).

• David Zahra and Brad Ward (Golf).

• Melissa Wu (HrdKaw Strength and Training and Future Stars partner); and

• Pierre Dubier (Cycling).

We have incredible talent within our Western Sydney region and it’s important that we provide the opportunities, pathways and access for our youth to thrive and transition to higher levels of competition and performance, and ultimately become better people and contribute to their community as a result.