ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC
VICSPORT
By ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC STATE recognition came the way for the Latrobe Valley sporting community as two Traralgon nominees were recently announced as finalists for the 2022 Victorian Sport Awards. Australian Netball Championships Positive Start program in Traralgon and Olympian Aoife Coughlan were among the finalists. Coughlan, who competed at the Tokyo 2020 Games, was named a finalist for the Kitty McEwan Award. The award is given for outstanding results achieved nationally or internationally in female categories. Now 27, Coughlan started Judo at the age of five. Her parents, both originally from Ireland, moved to Traralgon where they still currently live. Coughlan made her Olympic debut at the 2020 Games. Over the past year, Coughlan has won bronze at the Pan American Oceania Championships in Lima, and took out the Commonwealth Games in 2022 in Birmingham. She placed in the Oceania Open in Perth, and she claimed silver at the Grand Slam in Tokyo in 2022. It doesn’t stop there, with the decorated judoka being victorious at the Grand Prix in Portugal in 2023, and she recently claimed a bronze medal at the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv. Speaking with the Express Coughlan said: “it’s really cool, this is the second year I’ve been a finalist for this award. It just shows the dedication that me and my team have put into my sporting career. I hope that everyone that’s been involved in supporting my career can share in this nomination.” Coughlan attributed much of her foundational knowledge to her years as a junior judoka in Traralgon. “I got really lucky with Traralgon Judo Club and Yinnar and District Judo Club, they both gave me such a great base and foundation of the sport,” she said. “The coaches there were so passionate and caring about judo and they really instilled that in me. I’m not sure I would have gotten that anywhere else. I was really lucky that [Traralgon] is where my parents ended up and that’s what I got be a part of.” Time is never a luxury for professional athletes, but when Coughlan finds the time she loves to give back to her local community. “I like to try to give back to the judo community when it’s given me so much. It’s really important to give back,” she said. “It’s not super easy to get back with how much travel we have to do with this sport but I try to see my parents as much as possible. Whenever I’m in Traralgon I try to drop into the Traralgon Judo Club and say hi to all the judo club members that are there.” When asked what advice she would give for the youth she said: “Don’t listen to anybody that tells you it might not be possible. If you love something and you’re willing to put in the work for it, anything can happen and the more outside the box, the better.” In terms of empowering the next generation of sporting women, Coughlan said that “being confident in anything that you do is empowering for women.” Finalists for the Victorian Community Sporting Event of the Year was the Australian Netball Championships – Positive Start Program run by Netball Victoria in Traralgon last year. The 2022 positive start program provided free camps, sports programs and cultural experiences to Victorian students from government and low-fee-paying, non-government schools. The state government invested $112.9 million in Positive Start in 2022 as an initiative to help school students become more active and social. The Positive Netball Program was free for students to attend and enabled students to learn the skills and history of netball in a safe and fun environment. Eastern Region Manager of Netball Victoria, Judi Buhagiar, had the idea to combine the positive start program with the Australian Netball Championships held in Traralgon in August last year. “We ended up with 14000 kids coming through the gate, they were all provided with a netball skills session, and in some cases, they got to work with some Collingwood netball players. Sophie Garbin was one of them who is now an Australian Diamond,” she said. Students from all across Gippsland were awarded the opportunity to watch Australian Netball League games and learn skills from the very best in the sport. When asked how she felt about being named a finalist for the community event award, Buhagiar said: “It’s so gratifying to be recognised for your work and to know that you’ve impacted your community … and for it to be recognised as a finalist it’s quite humbling and so gratifying at the same time.” “It came as a bit of a surprise. I don’t mean to sound humble, but it was a surprise because, really, we were just doing our job. We were increasing exposure for netball, and we were giving kids an opportunity that they wouldn’t normally have.” From the thousands of school students that attended the event, Buhagiar said it renewed local interest in netball. “Morwell Netball Association is back up and running, and we sort of attribute that to the interest that came about through the positive start program,” she said. Buhagiar and local netball Victoria members had to call in backup as there was such a large interest and school participation. Employees from Netball Victoria in Geelong and even Traralgon’s SEDA Senior Secondary School students helped run the event. The program required two venues, needing both the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium and the netball courts in Breed Street, Traralgon. Vicsport chair Ritchie Hinton recognised and celebrated the wonderful achievements of the sport and recreation community in Victoria during 2022. “We received a record amount of nominations this year and that, combined with the calibre of nominations, is a fantastic showcase of the successes throughout our industry,” he said. Winners of the 2022 Victorian Sport Awards will be awarded at the ceremony held on Wednesday, June 7 at Marvel Stadium.
