Share a Yarn

4-time Australian Boxing Champion, Alex Winwood, has represented his country at multiple world championships and Oceania championships in a range of weight divisions. Having qualified in the 52kg division for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Alex is set to again represent his country on the world stage.

Alex also works hard outside of his sport, working as an apprentice electrician. In his spare time, Alex is a boxer with a passion for sport, outdoor activities and video games and represents his community, the Noongar people of South Western Australia, and his Aboriginal culture, with pride.

Amy Ridge is a member of the Australian women’s water polo team, the ‘Aussie Stingers’. She is a World Championship bronze medallist and is currently training for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She is passionate about diverse representation in sport and equal sporting opportunities in the broader community.

As well as training and competing, Amy is studying a Bachelor of Arts/ Law at UNSW. This sparked her interest in Indigenous justice and confronting the issues in our criminal justice system, particularly the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in custody.

As a Share a Yarn Ambassador she hopes to learn from and develop connections with Indigenous cultures across Australia so that she can better understand and engage with these issues in her future career.

Brad Scott is a prominent Paralympian, having formerly represented Australia in Athletics and also in Soccer. His greatest achievement as an athlete, was winning silver and bronze medals at the 2012 London Paralympic Games in Athletics.

Brad is passionate about his family and community, currently working in his local community to develop and promote inclusion of people with disability into meaningful community roles. He hopes to take this passion and experience into his role as a Share a Yarn ambassador in 2021.

Caitlin Sargent made her debut on the Australian senior team in 2011 and has been a consistent feature of the Australian team since then. Her appearances include two Summer Universiade’s, World Championships, two Commonwealth Games and World Relay Championships and her proudest by far, is a finals finish at the Rio Olympic Games.

Throughout her sporting career, Caitlin has balanced study and work, completing her Bachelor of Physiotherapy (with first class Honours) in 2013, before commencing work as a physio in private practice.

Through her experiences in track and field and her physio work, Caitlin is passionate about creating a fair and equitable world for all, regardless of gender, race, or ability and is also highly invested in environmental conservation.

Chris McHugh is an Australian Beach Volleyballer who has been a part of the national team for the last 14 years with career highlights such as a 2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist, 4-time Asian Beach Volleyball Champion and 6-time Australian Champion.

Apart from being an athlete, Chris is a father to Jack and a husband to Denai, who have been his key supporters. Chris is deeply passionate about children in sport and encouraging them to get out and participate in all sports, particularly Olympic sports such as Beach Volleyball.  Chris has been able to experience a great deal through his sport traveling, and meeting people he now considers family.

The trials and tribulations endured through the Olympic journey can't be replicated anywhere else and Chris wants all Aussie kids to have the opportunity to pursue their dreams and passions not just in mainstream Australian sports.

Gabrielle Coffey is a Netballer in Victoria, originally from Alice Springs. Gabrielle will represent Australia in the World Youth Cup Netball squad alongside her commitments as a Netball athlete at the Victorian Institute of Sport. In her life outside of sport, Gabrielle studies Communications and Media at the University of Melbourne. She is very passionate about promoting an active lifestyle to young girls and is a massive supporter for the improvement of mental health support for young Indigenous Australians.

As an Aboriginal woman, she is very excited to be a part of the Share a Yarn initiative and hopes it will help her get a step closer to increasing understanding of Indigenous culture within sport.

Janice Blackman is a proud Gubbi Gubbi and Butchulla Woman and a single mother to a beautiful Son, Jaidyn. When Janice was 19 years old, she made her international Debut with the Aussie Spirit Softball team. She has been a member of the QLD heat softball team for 8 years, all whilst working full-time as a Deadly Choices Program Officer with the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health.

Janice hopes to pursue a career in teaching later in life and has many passions which all impact her in different ways. Family is a core passion; the sense of love, nurturing and happiness gives Janice the positive vibes she needs to keep moving forward in sport and life.

Being a good role model for her mob is also a key motivator, inspiring younger generations, showing them that life is full of choices.

Regardless of being diagnosed with hemiplegia as young child, Jonty O’Callaghan began skiing. From there, he quickly gained an affinity for racing, taking up Para Alpine skiing as a full-time athlete at age 16.

Since then he has had a roller coaster journey full of highs and lows, from breakthrough performances to epic crashes. Jonty’s career highlight to date is qualifying and competing at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in PyeongChang and he is determined to again represent his country at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing.

Outside of skiing Jonty has completed a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in history) at the University of Melbourne and will soon be undertaking further study in Business. Jonty is very passionate about all things sport and has a keen interest in world affairs.

Born and raised in Western Sydney, Kyah Simon is a proud Aboriginal woman from both the Anaiwan and Biripi nations who worked her way up the ranks to earn her first senior cap at the age of 16, for the Westfield Matildas. Kyah has since represented Australia 92 times at International Tournaments including the 2011 and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cups, where she became the first Indigenous player to score at a FIFA World Cup.

In 2016 she also fulfilled a lifelong dream of representing Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Domestically, Kyah is one of the stars of the Westfield W-League with multiple League Championships and Internationally, has taken her playing career to the US and more recently Europe.

Kyah is motivated to stay at the top of her game in preparation for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Kyah has completed a Diploma in Business Management and has always had passions within the business sector. Although being a full-time Professional Footballer, Kyah has always had passion's off-field, such as founding her Kyah Simon Football Clinics.

Kyah enjoys mentoring the next generation and strongly believes in using the influential position she is in to help develop and encourage the younger generations to dream big and believe in themselves.

Mariah Williams is a member of the Australian Women’s Hockey team (Hockeyroos) and has been for 7 years now. She debuted for the Hockeyroos at 17 years old and despite multiple knee injuries, was selected for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. After the Olympics she also attended the Hockey Junior World Cup in Chile where she captained the team to a bronze medal. Mariah is working hard towards selection for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games to follow her appearance in Rio.

Mariah is very passionate about her sport and has a hunger and competitiveness inside that always wants to be out on the pitch competing against world-class athletes.

Mariah is excited and motivated to share a yarn with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, outside of her own family.

Michelle Wilson has been an Australian Karate Team member for over 20 years, having captained the country on numerous occasions. Michelle is an 11-time Australian Champion, 3-time Oceania Champion and 4-time WKF Senior World Championships representative, including being the first Australian mum to compete at WKF K1 event, only 6 months after having twins, and placing 2nd!

Michelle is passionate about all forms of sport and creating a vibrant and cohesive community. She is currently employed as General Manager of Adelaide University Sport and her professional background is in physical activity and public health.

She is passionate about inspiring people to be the best version of themselves, particularly young women.

Renee Rockliff is a Hockey athlete out of the Western Australian Institute of Sport, with Hockey being a large part of her life. Renee has played a number of National tournaments and represented Australian in the Australian Junior side at both an under 21 and 23 level and playing for the Perth Thundersticks in Hockey One National league.

Alongside hockey, Renee has always had a passion for helping others, especially the vulnerable and marginalised populations, as such she is currently working as a physiotherapist with a future endeavour to peruse medicine.

Renee hopes to use this role as a Share a Yarn ambassador as a stepping stone to greater her knowledge and understanding and to better engage within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community both as an athlete, and a health practitioner.

Rhydian Cowley lives, trains, and works on Wurundjeri, Woiwurrung & Boonwurrung land. He has represented Australia at the 2016 Olympic Games, 2018 Commonwealth Games, and three World Athletics Championships in the 20km racewalk, and has qualified for Tokyo in both the 20k and 50k walk. Rhydian has completed a Bachelor of Arts (History) and Bachelor of Commerce (Economics) and currently works in office administration.

In his spare time, Rhydian loves to make and share jam made from neighbourhood fruit trees, contribute to his local community garden, and read books. He is excited to learn more about Indigenous Australia through his involvement in the Share a Yarn Initiative and to share those stories and lessons with his community and his sport to help make them more inclusive places.

Sarah Gigante is a 20-year-old cyclist, racing for the professional American-based road team ‘Team Tibco Silicon Valley Bank’ and also studying linguistics and geography at the University of Melbourne. Sarah’s top achievements in the sport so far have been winning the Australian Elite Women's National Road Race Championships in 2019 and the Elite Women's National Time Trial Championships in 2020 and 2021.

Off the bike, Sarah really enjoys learning languages, spending time with cats and dogs, going to the beach and most importantly, spending some time at home.