The partnership between Tennis Australia and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is continuing to benefit communities after Tennis Australia confirmed the appointment of a Disability and Diversity Coordinator.

In a role designed to increase opportunities for people with disability in sport, Tennis Australia’s newest member of staff, Ms Jane Tulloch, will look to continue building on the Indigenous, disability and multicultural tennis programs already in place.

‘I am keen to build on existing programs and tournaments to provide people with disability access to a wide variety of tennis playing events,’ Ms Tulloch said.

‘I look forward to further developing relationships and increasing the profile of athletes with disability with Tennis Australia’s member organisations and stakeholders.’

The new position is a result of the work done between Tennis Australia and the ASC, and the appointment has been praised by Acting General Manager Community Sport, Wenda Donaldson who said the initiative helps national sporting organisations (NSO) show leadership and develop a ‘whole of sport’ approach to inclusion.

‘The partnership is made possible through the ASC Sports Connect, a national framework that develops pathways for people with disability to get involved in sport, by creating and developing relationships between sports and disability organisations,’ Ms Donaldson said.

Ms Donaldson said the introduction of Inclusion Officers has worked well in the past for other sports.

‘This is a model that has been successfully utilised with other NSOs including Basketball Australia and Swimming Australia.’

‘Swimming Australia recently piloted an ACT Swimming Expo for people with disability in collaboration with the ASC, ACT Swimming, the Department of Sport and Recreation, the Australian Paralympic Committee and a local swim school. This event was driven by the Swimming Australia’s Inclusion Officer with 40 children and adults participating.’

The ASC Sports Connect initiative currently offers a webinar series that enables people from the sport and disability sector to communicate practical examples of how working together can result in increased participation of people with disability in their local community.