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The Wollongong Roller Hawks will have home court advantage for the third straight round when they host the Red Dust Heelers in Round 3 of the NWBL.

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 The two sides met in Round 1 with the Roller Hawks winning 52-47.

 

The Heelers currently sit in third place having won both their matches against the Adelaide Thunder last week while the Roller Hawks remain in first place with 2 wins from 3 games last weekend against the Sydney Metro Blues.

 

“We’ve worked really hard on improving what we didn’t get quite right with the games against Sydney,” says Roller Hawks captain Brett Stibners.

 

“Everyone feels comfortable and confident coming into the games against Red Dust.”

 

There’ll be extra incentive as the two sides compete for the Woolkabunning Kiaka Cup. The Woolkabunning Kiaka Cup holds special significance as the nation marks Reconciliation Week.

 

The Red Dust Heelers originate from Roelands Village, Western Australia. Roelands was a former mission where members of Australia's Stolen Generation were taken to but according to Red Dust’s Kathleen O'Kelly-Kennedy, has gone from being a place of sadness to one of reconciliation and healing.

 

“Although it holds a lot of sad memories for many of the now grown Mission brothers and sisters, they came together under the name 'Woolkabunning Kiaka', which is Noongar for "been there, left and returned to the place of many hills".

 

“They returned to transform Roelands Village into a positive place of healing and development for their young people.”

 

Through programs like ‘Wheeling and Healing’ Red Dust are able to run disability awareness activities, and provide tools to deal with emotional trauma and stress that can come with having a disability as well as for those who care for someone with a disability.

 

“One in five Australians live with disability, while one in two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders live with disability - with such a high incidence rate, we want to work together to identify the reasons why they are disengaged, and change that.” says O'Kelly-Kennedy.

 

Stibners says the work Red Dust and all clubs do to encourage involvement from disabled athletes should be commended.

 

“Pathways with the game have gotten better especially with social media. It’s a small world now.”

 

“Red Dust do a very good job of getting disabled indigenous people involved in the game. Last season at one time they had five players on the court who were all indigenous.”

 

“That’s the first time that has happened. Red Dust should be very proud of that feat.”

 

The Red Dust Heelers continue to spread their message throughout the country and the Roller Hawks are proud to play for the Woolkabunning Kiaka Cup in support of working together to raise the number of all young people with disabilities to be able to engage in sports and recreation.

 

The Roller Hawks are proud to have Peoplecare as the game day sponsor for this significant round.   

 

Saturday night’s game at Shellharbour City Stadium will include a ‘Welcome to Country’ by local community elder Aunty Lindy Lawler and the national anthem in Dharawal. The series will then move to the Snake Pit at Beaton Park on Sunday where the sides will face off early as part of a triple header in association with the Illawarra Hawks Waratah League teams.

 

 

ROLLER HAWKS ROUND 3 GAMES

 

Saturday June 3: ROLLER HAWKS vs RED DUST HEELERS - 7pm @ Shellharbour City Stadium

Sunday June 4: ROLLER HAWKS vs RED DUST HEELERS - 9am @ The Snake Pit, Beaton Park