The Swinburne team beat hosts the University of Western Australia 36-21 in the basketball grand final
Swinburne University of Technology has achieved its best ever result at the 25th UniSports Indigenous ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s, finishing 7th overall.
In all, 12 Swinburne student athletes went head-to-head with 32 teams from 30 universities across four competitions: touch football, basketball, netball and volleyball. Swinburne won the Basketball Grand Final, and team captain, Katie Bugden, won the ‘Most Valuable Player for Basketball’ .
The University of Western Australia hosted the games from June 23 – 27 and The University of Technology Sydney were the overall winners.
The Swinburne team beat hosts the University of Western Australia 36-21 in the basketball grand final
Katie Budgen won ‘Most Valuable Player for Basketball’ for the second year in a row
The 2019 Swinburne Indigenous ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s team
- Conor Bowden (captain),
- Katie Bugden (captain),
- Emily Gittins,
- Joey Heng,
- Coen Henry,
- Lorraine Jaffer,
- Jordie McAuliffe,
- Cheyene Macumber,
- Shaunna Miller,
- James Muliett,
- Dylan Murphy,
- Matthew Tiffen,
Katie and another of the Swinburne team captains, Conor Bowden, said the team was made up of hard-working, top-level competitors who played their best, and they could not be happier with the results.
“It was the first time the 12 of us had played together and it was a great effort,” Conor said.
“We played so well together by the end of the games,” Katie said.
Senior Indigenous Student Advisor with , Joel Boojers, has managed the Swinburne Indigenous ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s team for the past three years and is very thrilled with the 2019 team.
“To win the basketball final against some very capable teams, and to witness our students combining to produce great results for Swinburne, leaves me feeling very proud of the whole team,” Joel said.
“Other universities were commenting on our results and camaraderie, and when you hear these things it reaffirms how important this week is to our students.”
Indigenous Student Adviser, Cyan Earnshaw, said the games are a great way to celebrate the rich sporting culture of indigenous Australia.
“Having our students compete at the Indigenous ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s is an important reflection of the work that the does. The centre is vital to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students – no matter their gender or age – are afforded to allow them to complete their chosen field of study successfully.”
Ahead of the games, the team were given an encouraging send-off at the uniform launch at Swinburne’s Hawthorn Campus where Joel Boojers and Student Life Clubs & Sports Officer Regan Longfield gave the team their matching playing uniforms.
Ahead of the games, the team were given an encouraging send-off at the uniform launch at Swinburne’s Hawthorn Campus where Joel Boojers and Clubs & Sports Officer Regan Longfield gave the team their matching playing uniforms.
Regan (left) and Joel (middle) present Emily Griffin with her 2019 Indigenous ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s uniform
The 2019 team uniforms (shirts, shorts, singlets, and skirts for the four respective sports) featured the new Moondani Toombadool Centre logo that Pathways and Vocational Education (PAVE) student .
The Indigenous ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s have come a long way since kicking off in 1996 as the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Indigenous Tertiary Education Student Games. The games were a joint class project by 13 students from the Diploma of Aboriginal Studies (Community Recreation) at the then Wollotuka School of Aboriginal Studies at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales. The renamed Wollotuka Institute will host the 2020 Indigenous ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s.
