Australian Pride in Sport Festival comes to Collaroy
- Collaroy Tennis Club
- Mar 22
- 8 min read
Updated: Mar 30
What an afternoon and evening last Saturday, as Collaroy celebrated its latest event as part of the Club’s Diversity & Inclusion Program – the inaugural Australian Pride in Sport Festival.
As a result of our three previous successful pride events since 2022, the Club was invited to apply for a grant to participate in this Festival - a national calendar of activities and events designed to promote inclusivity and encourage LGBTQ+ participation in sports across Australia. Our application was successful.
Why does Collaroy involve itself in such events? Because sport is an integral part of the fabric of our society and access to sport is a human right. Yet, participation rates for LGBTQ+ Australians are less than half that of the broader population and continue to decline. Many are simply too scared to join a sporting club for fear of not being able to be themselves. At Collaroy, we believe that the benefits of the sport we all love, whether physical, psychological, or the sense of friendship and community we receive from playing, should be available and accessible to everyone. And we’re happy to provide a safe and welcoming place for that to happen.
Beyond that, we wanted to use this event to raise funds for our Community Partner, Lifeline Northern Beaches, who each year support hundreds in our local community who are experiencing distress.
This was a very popular event… some 156 people attended, 66 of whom were CTC members, their family and friends. There were 21 friends of our event partner, Fusion Pride Northern Beaches, 41 members of the local community and 28 dignitaries, sponsors, celebrities and more.
A veritable Who’s Who of local Politics
The list of Dignitaries attending was impressive with influential local identities across Federal, State and Local politics all turning up. Collaroy member and former President, Martin F. was heard to ask: “How did we attract so many heavy hitters?” The List included Dr Sophie Scamps (Federal Member for Mackellar), Michael Regan (State Member for Wakehurst), Cr. Ruth Robins (Deputy Mayor, Northern Beaches Council), Cr. Sarah Grattan (Councillor, Manly Ward and CEO of Lifeline Northern Beaches) and former Davis Cup representative and World No. 16, Cr. Bob Giltinan (Councillor, Narrabeen Ward).
Acknowledgement of Country
The event kicked off at 4pm with a moving, musical Acknowledgement of Country, performed by Indigenous artist, Aleta Wassell.
Aleta performed two songs, sung in the local Sydney Indigenous Dharug Language. The lyrics told the story of the land we know as Long Reef Headland, now shared by the tennis club for over 100 years. The performance then concluded with Aleta leading the assembled audience through an interactive segment of stomping power into ‘nura’ (country), to show our respect for the land.
Co-Founders of event partner Fusion Pride Northern Beaches, Charity King and Sean Moran, then spoke beautifully about the significance of such events to the local community and the importance of their relationship with Collaroy T.C. Both Charity and Sean spoke from the heart and went so far as to say that our Club “felt like home” to Fusion Pride, as they were always so warmly welcomed by our members and made to feel like friends who belonged.
Sandra Wiles, Philanthropy and Partnership Manager of Lifeline Northern Beaches, then spoke about the vital work done by the organisation and how wonderful it is to have the support of our Club in raising much-needed funds. But she emphasised that the event was as much about community connection, reducing the stigma surrounding mental health, and raising awareness of Lifeline’s services beyond the 13 11 14 number, as it was about the dollars raised.
Great friends of the Club, Seven Time World Surfing Champion Layne Beachley and Co-Founder of legendary Aussie Rock band, INXS, Kirk Pengilly, again made themselves available for the cause. An online auction was held in the lead-up to the event, with the three highest bidders earning the right to play a Charity Exhibition doubles match with Layne, to be umpired by Kirk!
CTC committee member Justine W and friend of Fusion Pride, Anna London took two of the places on court, and Club President Vito was set to be the 3rd successful bidder… until fellow committee member Lavinia stormed to the top of the Leader Board with a late bid that knocked Vito out of the running!
The match was played in great spirit, though Ms. Beachley demonstrated that ruthless streak that took her to seven world titles, refusing to give her opposition a look-in on the scoreboard. There were many excellent rallies, but Layne and Justine always seemed to win the vital points.
Considering Layne hadn’t been on court since her last appearance at Collaroy almost exactly two years ago, she played some amazing shots, including one stunning forehand winner down the line that flew from her racquet like an Exocet missile. It was as good as any winner hit on our famed Centre Court and will go down in the annals of Collaroy Tennis Club folklore.
This match alone raised $600 for Lifeline Northern Beaches… a great effort from all involved. And even Bjorn Borg dropped in to say hi!
In the meantime, every court was filled with action – Pickleball on Court 4 and Cardio-Tennis on Court 5, provided by our event partner Evolve Tennis Academy (thanks Ryan and Scott) and their coaches Flavio and Mariana, while Club volunteers organised social on the remaining courts.
There was Table Tennis inside the clubhouse on both a full-size and Mini-Table and action throughout the Club as sponsors The Little Gelato Cart served up the best gelato in Sydney, while Bunnings fired up a traditional BBQ and served sausage sangas aplenty. Bunnings also provided Face Painting and temporary tattoos for the many kids present. A big thanks to Glenn for arranging The Little Gelato Cart with his mate Sal, and to Fusion Pride for organising the great contribution from Bunnings.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, amazing DJ Drag King, Sexy Galexy pumped out high energy music. She started off inside the clubhouse but was soon moved outside to be closer to the action. Sexy played some great tracks, including a couple of wonderful INXS re-mixes, appreciated by one of the band’s original members.
At one stage Sexy came out from behind the desk to perform her own outrageous version of Bon Jovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’, the entire crowd captivated and clapping along… just great fun.
Media Coverage
The event received some great coverage in the media and beyond with Manly Observer running a story, on their website, providing a listing on their What’s On page and also sharing the event on their socials (both Instagram and Facebook).
Club Inclusion Officer, Dave K., was interviewed for 10 minutes on the 'Game On' program on Melbourne Community radio station Joy 94.9, we were invited to distribute leaflets about the event at Warringah Mall, further spreading the word about the Club and our Inclusion policy, and our Facebook event was shared many times by Fusion Pride, Lifeline Northern Beaches and Evolve.
To top it off, Member for Wakehurst, Michael Regan, gave the Club a shout out in State Parliament. Delivering a Community Recognition Statement, Michael congratulated Collaroy on our Inclusion efforts and the success of this event, closing with the hope that it becomes a regular fixture on the Northern Beaches sporting calendar.
Funds raised for Lifeline Northern Beaches
Importantly, while final figures are still being tallied, it’s estimated that the event raised over $2.5k for Lifeline N.B. … a fantastic result. Sandra from Lifeline said: “Our ‘Rainbow Raffle’ alone was a huge success, raising $1,035. Just that amount equates to us answering over 25 crisis calls or providing 10 one-on-one counselling sessions.”
Feedback from others was also incredibly positive.
Ben Cork, Senior Relationship Manager of Pride in Sport said: “I had a great afternoon! What an incredible group of people. I had some wonderful chats with Fusion and Lifeline and it was amazing to meet Layne. Congratulations to the Club on a brilliant event!”
Charity King, Co-Founder of Fusion Pride Northern Beaches commented: “A HUGE thank you to Dave and the Collaroy Team for all your hard work in planning and executing the Pride in Sport Festival event on Saturday. Everyone I’ve spoken to since has only talked about how much FUN they had, and how they loved being a part of this amazing evening for a great cause.”
Our celebrity player in the Charity Exhibition match, Layne Beachley said: “Congrats to the CTC Team for organising another wonderful event. They’re not easy, so give yourselves credit for pulling it all together so well. Kirk and I had a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed being back on court. The brief moments of magic made it all the more memorable!”
Both Irena Farinacci - Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Tennis Australia and Nikita Sayle - Head of Inclusion, Diversity & Programming, Tennis NSW congratulated the Club on staging the event, with Nikita saying: “Thank you to everyone on the Collaroy Committee and others involved in organising this event, for all your efforts. Tennis NSW really appreciates the Club’s advocacy. The work that Collaroy puts into the Inclusion space really does have a positive impact and very much influences other clubs to follow your lead.”
Prizes were awarded to the best, most colourfully dressed attendees on the day. Congratulations to the ever-reliable Valerie for again making a great effort to get into theme… and to Samantha who seriously would have given Kylie Minogue at Mardi Gras a run for her money, with her stunning Rainbow Tutu. Both ladies received vouchers to dine at nearby GurTaj Indian restaurant as prizes (thank you Sumit!).
Valerie was seen celebrating her win well after dark, dancing wildly with Sexy Galexy as the court lights took effect, providing the perfect backdrop.
A HUGE thank you to all the committee and club members who helped make this event such a wonderful success. More photos appear in the Gallery below. A special shout out to Justine’s husband Tony for going above and beyond. And well done to Justine, Lavinia and Vito for bidding to play with Layne in the Charity Exhibition match. All in all, this was another day at Collaroy Tennis Club of which we can all be very proud.
A big thanks to Club Captain, Wil Jauco for taking the majority of photos and to other contributors including Anna, Glenn, Dave and Lauren Keogh.
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