The Tennis Australia initiative is continuing to develop and support women in community leadership positions, as well as build the pipeline of our next generation of leaders.

Queensland, Australia, 20 August 2024 | Nadia Dimattina

Rebecca Warner has been the Vice President of the University of Queensland (UQ) tennis club for six years.

As an avid tennis player herself, starting out in the UK during the 80s with plastic bats and foam balls, tennis has always held a special place in Warner’s heart.

She’s now focused on a new project – to increase female participation at her club – by introducing women’s social tennis sessions.

“We have historically low female representation across our programs, and I really wanted to look at an initiative that could actually improve those numbers and so I came up with the idea of ladies social tennis to run once a month on a Sunday morning,” Warner explained.

“We call it ‘match and mix’ because we provide refreshments afterwards and invite people to actually stay after tennis, to be able to socialize, to network, to meet other people.”

And the results are in – the club has seen a spike in the number of women playing tennis. Warner was hoping for 15 women to attend the first session when it kicked off in June and was amazed to see more than 40 turn up. The latest session had more than 50 women participate.

“I didn’t know there was this many women playing tennis in Brisbane. It has been fantastic – they just kept coming. It demonstrated to me that we were doing something right,” she said.

The idea was sparked from her ‘Key Action Learning Project’, an activity that forms part of Tennis Australia’s Women Leaders in Tennis program.

Rebecca was one of 17 women from across Queensland who graduated last weekend from the program, which is being rolled out nationally.

The Women Leaders in Tennis program aims to increase the participation of women in community leadership positions through professional development, mentorship and networking opportunities.

For Wulli Wulli woman Sharaina Lister, tennis is more personal.

“When I’m on a tennis court, it feels like home,” she said.

As president of a rural tennis club in Rolleston, Lister hopes to pass on her learnings to others in the community.

“For me, doing this role, it was a thing of, ‘okay if I can do it, then I can help other younger generations, not only just First Nations but our whole community’. I want to help them with their passion that they have for tennis, and if they want to not just play tennis but become a coach or a leader I’m more than happy to support them and push them to achieve that,” she explained.

Lister is using her Action Learning Project to restructure the clubhouse and future proofing it for generations to come.

“We are trying to build something better for not just the tennis club, but for the community so other people will love the club as much as what we do and know that they can hire the courts and hire the clubhouse for any kind of function they would like,” she said.

“Women Leaders in Tennis has opened up a doorway to do more of the programs that’s out there that Tennis Australia and Queensland have to offer but I will also be encouraging a lot of other women to partake in the programs too.”

This program is supported by an Australian Sports Commission federal government grant.

Congratulations to the Queensland 2024 Women Leaders in Tennis graduates:

Danel Shoeman – Mount Glorious Tennis Centre
Margaret-Mary Opstelten – Coach at West State School
Tiffany Krogh – Flanders Tennis Club
Laura Spellacy – Matchpoint Tennis Australia
Kara Curphey – Gold Coast Tennis Club
Rebecca Warner – University of Queensland Tennis Club
Naomi Oliver – Queensland Tennis Centre
Michelle Jaggard-Lai – Jaggard Sports Online
Elahe Kia – Beach Tennis Gold Coast inc.
Dianne White – Texas
Lesley Murree – Emerald District Lawn Tennis Assn.
Rebecca Poole – Theodore
Ruth Jones- Rolleston Tennis Club
Sharaina Lister – Rolleston Tennis Club
Sheneenah-Lee Schefe – Rolleston Tennis Club
Lily Walters- InTennis
Amali Gibson- Coolum Beach Tennis Club