Hockey quartet part of AOC Indigenous Coaching Scholarship

Four talented, aspiring hockey coaches have completed their first sessions as part of the Australian Olympic Committee’s Indigenous Coaching Scholarship program.

Dawn Baira (Qld/Torres Strait), Travis Carroll (NT), Shana-Ann Casimiro (NT) and Keegan Popowski (QLD) were selected among 12 coaches in Olympic sports to be given, as AOC CEO Matt Carroll stated, “practical support to further their careers and provide instruction for Indigenous athletes around the country.”

Dawn Baira has been integral in the advancement and support of hockey through Tagai State College and Migi Kokan Deadly 5’s Program for over ten years. Part of the Aspire Empower Me Program, Dawn has supported and been actively involved in local and regional hockey program development across the Torres Strait Island region.

Travis Carroll competed in the Australian Hockey League, was a member of the Australian Junior team and National Development Squad. He is the brother of former Kookaburra Joel Carroll. Travis has been coaching in the Hockey NT Stingers Academy program, was an assistant coach for NT U15 boys team at this year’s national championships and was the Assistant Coach of the Territory Stingers Men’s team for their series against JDH Hockey One League franchise Brisbane Blaze.

Shana-Ann Casimiro, who heralds from Darwin, has been coaching in our Stingers Academy program, was an assistant coach for our NT U15 women this year and has also recently been a part of our Stingers Men’s program in our series v the Brisbane Blaze.

Keegan Popowski is the current Head Coach of the Australian Women’s Hockey5s squad. Based in Toowoomba, he is currently in preparation for the 2024 Hockey5s World Cup in Oman.

The first sessions of the program took place in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory. The scholarship holders received hands-on training before delivering a sports activity day to students.

This is the second year of the program after it was successfully launched in 2022 for budding basketball coaches in conjunction with Australian basketball great Patty Mills’ Indigenous Basketball Australia and sponsors Toyota.

Baira from Badu in the Torres Strait has been coaching for ten years and hopes to produce a young hockey player who can compete in the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.

“I wish. I am hoping. We are just grass roots in Badu. Hopefully we can get our kids down into the state trials,” said Baira.

“It’s all for the kids. That’s the best we can do. Every step of the way, help where I can – starting from the basics and even to helping the families out along the way.”

Casimiro says the emphasis to learning more than the technical skills is critical to being a successful coach.

“It was good to pick up the knowledge on how to coach the girls and treat the girls and keep them involved in sport,” said Casimiro.

“I really like to get to know my players – so learning how to approach different players has helped me further that knowledge. You can’t treat everybody the same because we all react differently to how we are treated.”

The scholarship holders hail from Northern Territory, Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. See the full list of scholarship holders here.

Joining the scholarship holders were nine Olympians, including current Hockeyroo Mariah Williams and gold medallist Nova Peris OAM, who visited nine schools in and around Katherine delivering sessions of the Australian Olympic Committee’s (AOC) award winning ‘Olympics Unleashed’ program.

The visit, which was conducted in partnership with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), saw the Olympians give face to face lessons to students about the benefits of goal setting, decision making, overcoming hardships and finding a passion in life.