Meet Hockey Victoria's First Nations Ambassadors!

In 1975 Dwayne joined the Waverley Hockey Club, where three generations of his family have played. He has been on various club committees including being a past Club Secretary, Waverley womens Premier League player, Caley Manzie, a Proud Whadjuk and Ballardong, Noongar woman, says "Dwayne has been great at supporting the women's unit and myself as an indigenous player through organising a Respect for Woman dinner and inviting me to speak with junior teams he's coached. This has helped in younger people understanding indigenous culture and gender equity". Dwayne plays seniors and masters hockey at Waverley in addition to the Victorian 50s Masters State team.

Dwayne looks forward to continuing his work to promote and grow diversity within sport and the workplace.

Jaynaya is a proud Noongar/Balladong woman from Quairading in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia. Her connection with Hockey comes in various forms as one of our First Nations Ambassadors who currently plays for La Trobe Uni HC and sits on the Hockey Australia Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Working Group. She is a champion in embracing Gender Equity and has been a familiar face at the Women & Girls Breakfast since its inception. After working with the AFL and Reconciliation Australia as the AFL’s Reconciliation Action Plan Program Manager, Jaynaya provided strategic guidance on the Meaningful Initiatives for sustainable reconciliation vision development.

Jaynaya has a strong background across the Employment and Recruitment sectors through partnerships throughout the Education and Employment across regional and remote areas within Western Australia and Victoria. Having previously worked within the recruitment industry specialising in disadvantaged cohorts across wider Australia under the employment services framework Jaynaya has been able to assist in identifying the gaps in engagement deliveries and having the ability to effectively articulate throughout the partnerships on how to actively develop these. Jaynaya would describe herself as an expert net-worker who is always looking to assist her large network with connecting to each other to strengthen the business connections for everyone.

Indigenous Round

Hockey Victoria is excited to present our annual Indigenous Round for 2023. The aim of the round is to celebrate and support the First Nations community. We welcome all clubs to join us in celebrating the round. We encourage clubs to celebrate through taking part in the initiatves planned, and increasing visibility across the weekend.

For more resources and how to celebrate please see below Hockey Victoria's Indigenous Round Guide;

Indigenous Round 2023 - HV Guide.pdf

Junior State Championship Uniforms

HV are delighted that as part of the 2023 Grassports Junior State Championships, all 9 zones will play in JSC Uniforms inspired and designed by Billy-Jay O’Toole, or BJ as commonly known.

BJ created an incredible piece titled ‘Coming Together on Dja’ that appears on the 2023 Grassports Junior State Championships jerseys. The piece will be on display at Melbourne Sports Centres Parkville during the JSC.

This artwork is about travelling across the country and coming together. The first meeting place shown leading down the middle are the teams at their local clubs preparing for the JSC. The meeting place in the middle symbolises everyone coming together. The hand print in the middle is everyone’s connection to country.

Whether you are Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or not, everyone is connected to this Country in some aspect. BJ highlights this connection to Country further with the dots acknowledging the lifeblood of Country, our waterways, with the eucalyptus leaves welcoming you onto Country.