OVER 100 South West students hit the courts at Leschenault Leisure Centre for the Kalyakool Keyen (Forever One) Netball Carnival on August 4.
Hosted by Australind Senior High School, the carnival saw both indigenous and non-indigenous students from Bunbury Senior High School, Collie Senior High School, Busselton Senior High School, Manea Senior College and Our Lady of Mercy College participate in multiple games of mixed netball.
2021 marks the first year for the carnival, which is the creation of Australind Senior High School Aboriginal and Islands Education Officer Jennie Calgeret.
Ms Calgeret said the idea was born from her students wanting the opportunity to play netball against other schools.
"So I just decided to make a netball carnival and invite a couple of other schools. We've definitely had a bigger turn out that what I thought we'd have, with six senior teams and four junior teams."
As part of Australind Senior High School's NAIDOC week celebrations from August 2 to 6, Ms Calgeret said having both indigenous and non-indigenous students participate was a great way to share the indigenous culture.
"The carnival is also a good way to promote both netball health with the involvement of the South West Aboriginal Medical Service. Kids can go up and have a yarn with them about the importance of health and regular health checks, as well as put their name in a raffle to win some prizes."
Collie Senior High School Coach Ijah Coyle said Collie Senior High felt 'privileged and honoured' to be invited to take part in the netball carnival.
"A lot of events we've attended are a lot around the boys, so it's fantastic that these girls get this opportunity to get together, have some fun and enjoy sports."
"We've bought seven girls with us from Collie today who are all a part of the Shooting Stars Program at our school. Our main goal is to have fun," Mr Coyle said.
Collie Senior High School's Shooting Stars Program is about providing education engagement to Aboriginal girls and young women located in both remote and regional towns of Western Australia.
Mr Coyle said it was important going into the future for all schools who don't have access to programs like Shooting Stars, to have access to the Kalyakool Keyen Netball Carnival.
"Their kids can have this much fun as well and also get to know each other. It's awesome to see the girls out there having some fun."
"Big thanks to Jennie for organising the event, we'll definitely be back next year!"
As a participation event, all students who took part in the Kalyakool Keyen Netball Carnival received a Certificate of Participation from Australind Senior High School, that stated "Together we can build strong relationships with our school communities and our Aboriginal students, supporting true healing and reconciliation."
Ms Calgeret said she was looking forward to the carnival in 2022.
"I really didn't think it was going to be this big so a lot more planning will go into it for next year. We will have a lot more happening," Ms Calgeret said.