The Tasmania Jewels have launched a statewide campaign pairing young Tasmanians with players on billboards across three cities to inspire the next generation of athletes.
Billboards went up on Friday in Hobart, Launceston and Devonport, with school visits and a social media push to follow over the next month.
The club said the campaign, titled “you can be what you can see”, puts a positive spin on the common saying about visibility and representation.
The campaign features Jewels players Steph Reid, Keely Froling and Nikki Parker alongside three young Tasmanians – Akura Deng, seven, from Blackmans Bay, Ivy Adams, eight, from Beaconsfield and Teneisha Richey, 12, from Penguin.
Tasmania Jewels coach Claudia Brassard said the team is on a mission to reflect, captivate and inspire the state.
“It will be a milestone moment for Tasmanians when the Jewels join the JackJumpers on the national stage with the start of the WNBL season this October,” Brassard said.
“We firmly believe that when we support elite women athletes, we support the girls and boys looking up to them too.”
“We want girls and boys across Tasmania to see the Jewels and have the innate belief that they can do anything they dream of too.”
Marquee player Steph Reid said seeing elite athletes up close as a child changed her life.
“I remember when I was little, signing up to a Michelle Timms camp,” Reid said.
“I was so excited to learn from an Opal, plus she is short and I am short.”
“This is what excites me about being a part of the Jewels, we have the privilege and opportunity to be role models.”
Deng, daughter of JackJumper Majok Deng, told her mother after spending a day with Reid at the photoshoot that she wanted to watch every Jewels game instead of heading to the kids’ playroom at MyState Bank Arena.
The seven-year-old netballer said she now wants to be a Jewel when she grows up.
In Devonport, Richey, a basketballer playing for the Ulverstone Red Hoppers, said her role model is Parker, who is also from the north-west.
