Two Shooting Stars’ participants and trainees are celebrating this month, after successfully completing their Certificate III in Sport and Recreation whilst living and working in their own regional Western Australian communities.
Shooting Stars participant and trainee Tilly Kyanga.
Shooting Stars participant and trainee Taya Olman.
As Shooting Stars’ Premier Partner, the Gold Industry Group has been working with the charity to improve the lives of indigenous girls in WA since announcing their landmark agreement with netball in April 2019.
Tilly Kyanga, a Yamatji woman from Meekatharra in WA’s Mid-West region, has been with Shooting Stars since mid-2018 as an Assistant Coordinator. Tilly has expressed her desire to grow her practical skills more formally through the new qualification.
Taya Olman is a Shooting Stars Assistant Coordinator, based at the Narrogin site in WA’s Wheatbelt region, and said she enjoyed the challenge of combining work and study whilst working with Shooting Stars. As a 2016 Year 12 graduate from Narrogin Senior High School, Taya is a well-known member of her Noongar community.
The girls completed their traineeships in a full-time capacity, receiving on the job training and support provided by both Shooting Stars and Royal Life Saving.
Taya shared her ongoing passion for Shooting Stars.
“What I love the most about this job is guiding our young Aboriginal girls into their futures and giving them motivation to do better and encourage them to chase after their dreams,” said Miss Olman.
Shooting Stars Executive Officer Fran Haintz said it was a fantastic achievement for both Tilly and Taya as well as the organisation.
“Shooting Stars staff provided mentoring to Tilly and Taya throughout the duration of the traineeship,” said Ms Haintz.
“This support has been pivotal and ensured that both Tilly and Taya were well supported in their study and work commitments and able to complete their traineeship requirements successfully.
“Both Tilly and Taya have shown fantastic commitment to their studies and their professional development. They have continued to support the delivery of the Shooting Stars program at their respective sites and home communities and have taken the opportunity to develop and deliver health and well-being sessions and sporting engagement sessions with our Primary school aged participants,” she concluded.
Shooting Stars staff have gone above and beyond for their participants, while the nation works together to stop the spread of COVID-19. During the last week of Term 1 in WA, the staff created take-home packs for all Shooting Stars participants to stay busy and safe at home over the two-week school holiday.
The packs were tailored to participants needs, consisting of various materials that included: gold netballs, West Coast Fever drill challenges and indoor activities, puzzles, crosswords, colouring-in pages, design competitions, notepads and pencil cases full of stationery. Toiletries and sanitary products were also donated by the Leonora District High School to ensure participants could continue to practice good hygiene.
Ms Haintz said Shooting Stars participants’ health and safety are always a priority and especially during these uncertain times.
“It was great to see our Shooting Stars staff going above and beyond to make sure our participants were well equipped to tackle the challenges ahead these school holidays.
“Shooting Stars is more than an education program, it’s a family and little gestures such as these take-home packs demonstrate that,” she said.
Learn more about the Gold Industry Group’s partnership with netball in Western Australia.
Gold Industry Group members proudly supporting Netball WA, West Coast Fever and Shooting Stars include Gold Fields, Northern Star Resources, Saracen Mineral Holdings, Gold Road Resources, Newcrest Mining, St Barbara, Newmont Australia, AngloGold Ashanti Australia, Ramelius Resources and The Perth Mint.