Youth, Sport and Recreation

Council delivers a comprehensive youth, sport and recreation program.

The Central Desert Shire (CDS) Youth, Sport and Recreation program’s main objective is to work with CDS communities to deliver youth, sport and recreation programs that create healthy minds, bodies and communities.

A combination of after school, vacation care, youth, sport, recreation, art and cultural activities are delivered by the CDS team in the following communities:

Atitjere (Harts Range)
Engawala
Lajamanu (Hooker Creek)
Laramba (Napperby)
Anmatjere (Ti Tree) – Pmara Jutunta, Wilora, Nturiya

Partnerships with Central Australian Youth Link Up Service (CAYLUS) and Walpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation (WYDAC) has ensured that the delivery of Youth, Sport and Recreation programs continues to grow across the whole Central Desert region.

News

Youth Tunes Roadshow

Talented Central Desert Shire Musicians were on display in the Youth Tunes Roadshow in April through a series of Concerts. From West to East the musicians travelled through Yuelamu, Laramba, Ti Tree, Engawala and Atitjere to perform and give other local talent the chance to impress.

Carl Inkamala (Engawala), Ronston Campbell (Laramba), Elwin Daniels (Laramba) and Raymond Reef (Atitjere) were the core roadies who travelled to help local teams in each community to setup, practice and perform.

It was a tiring schedule for all involved with five concerts in five communities in five nights with almost two thousand kilometres of driving in between. Each day the crew would wake up, clean the facility from the previous night, pack the car and trailer, travel to the next venue, setup, teach a few musical chords to community members, practice and then perform till late in the night.

When night fell and each concert began whole communities went to the venues to dance, cheer and enjoy the sausage sizzles. The best musician from each community was awarded a highly prized ipod. Congratulations to Josiah (Yuelamu), Lawrence (Laramba), Ti Tree (Richard), David (Engawala) and Michael (Atitjere) for winning in their communities. There were also a lot of great prizes given to the best dancers.

The Central Desert Shire event was run by the Sport and Recreation program with support from the NT Government and Beyond Blue as a Youth Week event.

Softball Championships

Laramba is through to the Central Desert Shire Softball Finals and Engawala is well positioned to join them after some close fought matches in the division competitions.

The West Division had it all when the Eagles’s took on the Laramba A’s in Yuelamu. Both teams had flashes of brilliance but it was Katheryn Cook, the crowd favourite, who pitched her team to a 7 to 6 victory.

Katheryn would modestly admit it was a team effort, especially as her teammates batted so well, but the brilliant speed at which she pitched the ball was key to the Eagles success.

Unfortunately for Yuelamu the win was too little-too late after their earlier division loses to both the ‘Roos’ and the Laramba A’s. The Laramba A’s have also been troubled with leading players being unavailable for vital clashes. However their depth and consistency has bought them the first position in the Central Desert Shire Softball Championship Finals.

Engawala currently sits ahead of Atitjere in the Plenty Division as their two teams went through round one undefeated. The Engawala Crows looked a professional unit in their new jerseys and with captain Sarah Williams organising the team. After beating Atitjere in Atitjere they will host their opponents and need only a drawer to guarantee their spot in the finals.

The remaining four divisions in the Central Desert Shire competition; Stuart, West, and Lajamanu will continue to compete for their position in the June finals. The event was made possible through the dedicated work of Central Desert Shire Council employees and funding from the federal Indigenous Sport and Active Recreation Program and the Northern Territory Government’s NRETAS.

Ti Tree Celtic Join the Brotherhood

A group of young fellas from Ti Tree got together to make the first cricket team from Central Desert to compete in the Imparja Cup, the annual national Indigenous cricket carnival held in Alice Springs every January.

It was a steep learning curve for the boys with two heavy defeats and a narrow loss to more experienced teams but they finished on a high with a win against the other new-comers from Elliot.

Captain of the Ti Tree Celtics, Wayne Scrutton, was pleased with how the boys shaped up. "It was something different and we’ll be back next year for sure!" he said at the closing ceremony.

The trip was made possible with the support from the Council’s Youth, Sport and Rec Program, NT Cricket and Commonwealth Government’s Indigenous Sport and Active Recreation Program