I am a professor in sport management and sociology of sport at Victoria University. Many of my childhood memories involve sport in one way or another: from playing street football (the round ball) and tennis in the Netherlands, and watching Studio Sport on Sunday evenings, to attending my first Feyenoord-Ajax game with my grandfather and my father. I have been playing club football since I was six years old, and today I play futsal in a team made up predominantly of migrants like me. I also continue to enjoy coaching kids in football.
Soon after I migrated to Australia in 2007, I began to study the lived experience of refugee-background young people in football, basketball, and other sports. I became a researcher, football coach, and casual mentor in one of Melbourne’s largest public housing estates, where a relatively large number of people from migrant and refugee backgrounds live. These experiences let me to publish my first scientific articles on the sport experiences of Somali Australians, as well as my book Sport and Social Mobility: Crossing Boundaries.
The life stories of newly arrived migrants and refugee-background young people, and their experiences and achievements in sport and physical culture, continue to fascinate and inspire me. Extending my earlier research, Change Makers gives me the opportunity to not only document these experiences and achievements, but also to work together to make positive change happen in the communities we serve.
I am a lecturer and researcher in the sociology of sport at Victoria University. I am internationally recognised for my research on sport in contemporary Australian society. Through years of engagement with students I have developed a keen understanding of the issues of inclusion and exclusion across a variety of grass roots and elite sport settings.
Playing rugby in Japan in the mid 1990’s gave me my first personal experience of how sport could simultaneously include and exclude. Things that I had taken for granted in Australia became apparent playing in Japan. Cultural misunderstanding, language barriers, access to transportation, styles of play, and stereotypes all meant that the depth of my inclusion was often superficial.
I have an enormous passion for sport and have been involved in playing and coaching for the best part of 30 years. At the moment I coach my daughter’s soccer team and therefore engage regularly with the complexities of trying to make sport as inclusive as possible. I’m a big believer in the possibilities of sport to act as a vehicle for social inclusion, to create a place where people feel they belong, and to provide enjoyment and social opportunities. However, mindful of my time playing in Japan, for sport to be more inclusive for migrants and refugees requires those who are already in sport to recognise some of their taken for granted knowledge of these spaces. I’ve met so many amazing and generous people in sport, people who believe in equality and inclusion, and I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with them to help translate these beliefs into actions.
I am a lecturer and researcher in physical education at Victoria University. I migrated to Australia recently and sport has always been a part of my life. I started to play when I was eight years old on the streets in Brazil. We used to play a small-sided soccer game called ‘gol caixote’. The posts were made with flip flops, and the uneven terrain, houses and people passing by made the game even more fun. I grew up playing football and flying kites with friends who lived in favelas (slums in Brazil). I met so many good friends while playing football. I also learned so many values including teamwork, collaboration, and trust. My experience playing sport led me to complete a PhD at the University of Sao Paulo in 2014 during which time I explored critical pedagogy and feminist studies in order to co-create a sport program that better addressed youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds. I became passionate about how we can prepare coaches/teachers to deliver pedagogies aligned with the idea of social transformation. To learn more about it, I did my post-doctoral fellowship at New Mexico State University (US) in 2015– 16 after which I moved to Australia and joined VU as a lecturer in 2018. I have been using participatory methodologies to co-create spaces of social transformation across diverse context (e.g., nonprofit organisations, teacher education programmes and school context), countries (e.g., Brazil, United States and Australia) and with diverse populations (e.g., young people from socially vulnerable backgrounds, refugee-background young people, young women, and pre-service teachers). I believe Change Makers creates a space for me to keep trying to impact diverse people’s learning and their future participation in sport. However, this project is special because I am not alone; we are a group, a community that shares the same emancipatory interest. Collectively, we could create spaces for migrants and refugee-background people to name, critique, and negotiate barriers to participate in sport.
I am a senior lecturer and researcher in sport and social change at Victoria University and I am a lead researcher on the Change Makers project. I am a kiwi and in my youth I played, coached and managed many sports. I spent countless hours swimming, running and whacking balls. I loved sport and physical activity so much that I undertook a physical education degree at the University of Otago, and my love of sport then coincided with a love of learning and research. At university I was introduced to sociological thinking and these tools allowed me to see that sport experiences and opportunities were not the same for everyone, and that in many ways I had been very fortunate in my access to opportunities to play and love sport. Reflecting back, I realised that the players, coaches and administrators in the sports I played were mostly all from the same Pākehā background as me (particularly in cricket, swimming and athletics). However, I also became aware that I had tolerated a lot of ingrained sexism in sport – I had just taken for granted that my brothers and my male peers had even better experiences, more opportunities and greater rewards. These realizations turned into a quest to better understand and change sporting structures and culture – both in terms of gender and cultural diversity. In my job I work every day to use and translate my knowledge of inequality, discrimination and injustice to help try and make sport, physical education, exercise and physical activity experiences more accessible, safer and better experiences for all. I’m looking forward to working with you on this mission to help create more inclusive and supportive sporting climates in Melbourne’s West.
My Relationship with sports is different to most people. As a kid, I loved the social aspects of sports and was naturally good at it. However, that changed when I started noticing teachers and coaches taking fun out of sports and placing more importance on my skills and competitiveness. This resulted in me resisting to play sports and this changed my outlook on sports as a whole. I am excited to be part of the change makers project and looking forward to revisiting and unpacking the biases and the resistance I had as a kid and look at it from a different perspective. I am currently doing my master’s degree in criminology and Justice and relating that to the effects of inclusion and exclusion. I have worked in the community sector for the last 4 years delivering training and facilitation, as well as working as a policy and research officer. I am looking forward to being inspired by the change makers’ love for sports and rebuilding my relationship with sports.
Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated at how things function and why certain things are the way that we are. Add this fascination to my love for sports and you have the reason why I naturally gravitated towards sport psychology the second I found out about it. This field has been my passion ever since, and I’ve only grown to love the field more throughout my Bachelor degree, where I’ve discovered that the research domain is where I’ve belonged all along, and as such intend on completing a Master’s degree but also a PhD. Delving into the world of powerlifting and starting to compete in the sport myself a couple of years into my Bachelor’s degree, this only further solidified my love for the field and drive to understand the psychology behind sport. I was always interested most in how elite athletes can be overcome with the inability to execute skills that should be second nature to them (i.e. the yips) and also how burnout can occur when their job is their passion. However, coming face to face with burnout only a few months into my powerlifting journey, I completely understood how it can occur and how debilitating it can be. Before finding my niche in powerlifting, I was fortunate enough to be involved in sports since I was old enough to participate, being involved in all sorts of sports such as swimming, tennis, and netball. It was only through my study that I came to realise the differentiation in treatment of humans based on their unique characteristics such as their sex and background also applies to sport. Learning about this unfairness brought a feeling in my stomach that was screaming at me to do something about it so that future generations wouldn’t have to experience what I did as a woman of half African half European descent. It is only fair that I strive to help create a future where discrimination of any kind, but especially those that I can relate to, is not seen – and this project will help me do just that.
I am a student at Victoria University studying the Bachelor of Education (P-12) and majoring in Health and Student Welfare. I knew I wanted to become a teacher before I even started school and have always loved the idea of being able to share my love for learning and making a difference. I am passionate about student-centred learning, an approach that involves addressing the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations and cultural backgrounds of each student. I work as a student mentor at the university, guiding tertiary students to become more academically successful. Additionally, I am a Youth Leader at the VBYA, where I help coordinate activities including dance, arts and craft and survival skills for Vietnamese children and teenagers. I am the oldest child of Vietnamese immigrants, living in the Western suburbs of Melbourne. Growing up, my parents placed my siblings and I in countless tutoring programs as well as piano lessons. My family had never placed sport (or physical health in general) as priority and instead encouraged us all to focus on our academic education. As I got older, I learnt and became more aware of the impact my health choices were having on me which initiated my interest in the field of health and wellbeing. I recognise that there are structural and cultural barriers that prevent immigrant and refugee families from participating in sport activities. I look forward to taking part in the Change Makers project and contributing to the collaborative work that will essentially help foster a more inclusive sporting space for migrants and refugees in Melbourne’s west.
I am currently in my final year of my Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and Sport science at VU. My Aim is to go straight into my Master of Teaching (Secondary) commencing in 2022.
Growing up on the south coast of Victoria, I was very fortunate to be able to participate in a wide variety of sports from a young age. Cricket, Australian rules football, Basketball, Swimming, Surfing were all just a part of life in a small community by the beach. It wasn’t until I began university and moved to Melbourne that I realised that not everyone was as lucky as I was with the opportunities in sport. Not only to improve my skills and fitness, but to have a safe and inclusive environment I could always fall back to. The decision to start university was not an easy one for me to make. I had worked at school camps, travelled overseas and had just landed a job on Hamilton island in the Whitsundays. Although I enjoyed the lifestyle, there was something missing. I am passionate about the environment and sustainability and wanted to find the most efficient method to help the future of our world. This lead me down the path of teaching and I haven’t looked back. Through my units of study, Sociology subjects kept grabbing my attention. I was intrigued and challenged about my own thoughts and way of life. I was starting to realise how privileged I had been and the extent of inequality surrounding me. I made the decision to try not just ‘talk the talk’ about things that I thought were important. I have recently started a job with MITS (Melbourne Indigenous Transit School) in Richmond and am loving getting to know young First nations people and learning about their culture. Between MITS and Change Makers, I am excited and looking forward to helping people with disadvantages in as many ways as I can.
My passion for sports began in childhood and solidified as a way of life in my 20s. This ignited my love for fitness and in order to gain a better understanding, I completed several qualifications in personal training and group fitness. I believe in order to change anything in life, one must change their mindset.
To further develop my understanding and acquire new knowledge and skills, I am currently undertaking a BA of Exercise Science.
This degree has a strong emphasis on sports psychology and exercise philosophy which will benefit my clients, by ensuring they will receive current high-quality research-based support to achieve their goals for a healthier and happier life. Specialising in community wellness, I established a not-for-profit organisation (IWWSR) in January 2019 that aims to create an inclusive environment for women (cis and trans) and genderqueer people from CALD communities to connect through the power of sports.
I am currently a PhD candidate and sessional academic in the Sociology of Sport space at Victoria University. I also run hip-hop inspired music and movement workshops for youth around Brimbank and Hume. Working with people has been a keen interest of mine for many years and led me to undertake a degree in Exercise Science and Human Movement. I always enjoy engaging with people and having the opportunity to benefit their lives in some way.
Through my Bachelor’s degree I was introduced to sociology, where I currently use it in my PhD research to understand violence and masculinity in the mixed martial arts space. I was also able to incorporate sociology into my hip-hop workshops, my sessional teaching, political activism and my life in general.
Using sociology in sport helps us recognise issues and aids us in finding creative solutions. My interest in sports potential in society has continued to increase over the years. I am excited for the opportunity to work with people in the sport space in my native Western suburbs.
I have just finished my Bachelor of Exercise Science (Sport Practice) degree at Victoria University. The way things, and particularly the human body, work has always intrigued me. I did my exercise science degree to gain a deeper understanding of the body, particularly looking at how we might continue to fine tune the body in elite sport for improved performance.
During my studies, I learnt of the increasing prevalence of poor health status around the world and the use of sport in promoting ideologies (seemingly paradoxically) that contributed to this. I decided that I wanted to help people become more active, rather than fine-tune those at the top of their game. As a Christian, I believe the Bible has a vision where all kinds of people live in unity and harmony with one another, and I have a growing desire to see this realised on earth. This has manifested in a desire to interact with and learn about/from people from other cultures. With this, I’ve become increasingly interested in language and how it can aid and impede cross-cultural interactions in various contexts (work, sport, dinner, home visits etc.). Finally, I love sport. I swam, played football (the oval kind), and tennis as a kid. Now, I’m becoming increasingly interested in team sports (the non-concussion kind), like ultimate frisbee and touch rugby. The expression of my degree, faith, and love for sport have the wonderful opportunity to merge in the Change Makers project.
I am currently completing my third year of my Bachelors of Sport Science (Human Movement)/Sports Management degree at Victoria University. Growing up in a small town, surrounded by a sporting a family, I have always been heavily involved in sport and consider this a key influence for why I decided to undertake a sport related degree. Having played a vast array of sports as a child, I ultimately choose the traditional path of netball and tennis but have recently become equally involved with more male dominated sports, such as cricket.
Further, both my positive and negative experiences within the sporting world have shaped a desire to work towards greater equality within the sporting industry and to help others overcome some of the common barriers faced when navigating the many layers of sports participation. Having recently been introduced to sociological thinking through the completion of a unit at VU, I have become highly engaged and passionate about exploring the issues embedded within sporting culture and understand the importance of sport as a mechanism for change. Further, I am eager to expand my knowledge base and continue to grow within the sociological landscape and research space. Overall, I am so super excited to be involved with the Change Maker’s project and to contribute to positive change, aiming to make sporting spaces more inclusive and accessible for migrants and refugees within the community, free of discrimination and barriers.
In 2018, I took on a new role as Girls’ Program Manager at Glen Eira FC, after realising the Club wasn’t offering its girls anything close to the same opportunities as the boys in the Club. With 2 daughters and 2 sons who played for Glen Eira FC, and were having very different experiences, this wasn’t acceptable to me! Working alongside the inaugural Girls’ Technical Director, John Sugunananthan (a visionary coach and leader in girls and women’s football), we introduced a host of new programs (most of them free), established a leadership team, gathered sponsors, and created an elite pathway for girls in the Club, to match the elite boys’ pathway that had existed for nearly 10 years.
A year later our girls’ participation rate had increased by 40%, our social media was saturated with our new girls’ program, and we were off and away! Despite the enormous progress we have made, we still have a very long way to go in many areas before reaching the target of 50/50 – for example our Club’s Committee is severely lacking in its representation of girls and women.
Whilst I am a lawyer by background, I am passionate about advancing girls and women in football, and I was a lucky participant in FV’s inaugural Female Administrator Leadership Program in 2019. I was also grateful to receive a Change Our Game Scholarship from the Victorian Government, which will allow me to further my study in community sports management and leadership.
I have hopeful leadership aspirations for the future, and would especially like to see Club governance reformed and overhauled, to ensure equality in participation and experience in Clubs. I am thrilled that Australia is co-hosting the Women’s World Cup in 2023. What a time to be an Australian woman involved in the beautiful game! I doubt there will be a better opportunity to advance women and girls in football in Australia, and to reach the target of 50/50 participation. We have much to do on many fronts, but this is our time – oh the places we will go!