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Indigenous Talent ID Day a big success

The Central Coast Academy of Sport (CCAS) Underwriting Agencies Australia (UAA) Indigenous Talent ID Day for 2022 was held in mid March, with representation from high schools from both ends of the coast.

Indigenous students from Central Coast High Schools got the opportunity to come together under the watchful eyes of some of the regions most experienced sports coaches. Students got active early with sport testing and measurements to start the day. Following lunch four sporting disciplines were in action Basketball, Volleyball, Golf and AFL with the skills sessions run by experts in their fields.

The concept of an ITID Day was developed in partnership between the Central Coast Academy of Sport and Underwriting Agencies Australia (UAA) with a focus to ‘unearth’ local indigenous talent from the Central Coast region and to then be able to provide full scholarships to CCAS Sports Programs. The ITID strategy is unique to the Central Coast, it is an event not done anywhere else in NSW.

The end goal is the Academy will invite the top performers from the day to take part in a six (6) week training program starting term 2, 2022. From here students will be invited to join one of the twelve (12) sports programs operated by the CCAS throughout 2022.

Michael Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of UAA said of the day, “UAA is committed to supporting pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders to succeed in life and sport may help with that goal. We are delighted to partner with CCAS , as well as 5 other Regional Academies of Sport throughout NSW to provide this unique opportunity locally. This event has run successfully for the past 6 years on the Central Coast and we are excited to see this expanded throughout NSW.”

He continued, “We are delighted with how this event ran and the extension into the CCAS Tabloid Program or the full CCAS Sports Program is just fantastic. I appreciate that coming out of COVID-19 has had some significant considerations for the local high schools and to those schools who saw the benefit of participation, a huge thank you”.

Emily Burgess-Moore the CCAS Events Manager said of the program: “the day was quite remarkable, by changing up the format from previous years we were able to record some excellent data on all the student fitness levels. I can’t thank our coaches enough, they readily volunteer their support and when our office reached out to them for assistance, we were overwhelmed by their willingness to get involved and to make the day the success it was.

The Academy really have done something very special in partnership with UAA, so hats off to UAA to provide the financial support to make this day and the scholarships that follow a reality for our region and the athletes who took part. It’s easy to take sport for granted and we found out today just how essential a program like this is for our region.”

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