Ellen Ryan to be mentored by Dawn Fraser
18 year-old Australian Jackaroos squad member Ellen Ryan has been chosen as one of five young recipients to receive mentoring by some Australia’s greatest sporting personalities, as part of the 2016 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program.
In a further coup for the talented young Goulburn based Cabramatta bowler, Ryan has been paired up to be mentored by four-time Olympic gold medallist Dawn Fraser MBE.
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program aims to help talented young Australians achieve at the highest level of sport, by providing support and funding for a period of 12 months.
Awarded annually as part of the 31st Sport Australia Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala Dinner – supported by Etihad Airways – the five successful recipients will be presented their scholarships by their respective mentors on Wednesday, 21st October 2015 at Palladium at Crown, Melbourne.
Ryan will have the experience of a lifetime as she is mentored by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame inaugural female Inductee and official Legend of Australian sport.
One of only three swimmers to win the same Olympic event three times, Fraser won four gold and four silver medals across the 1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“It’s very important that we do look after our future stars. It’s always a great pleasure to pass onto young athletes what I’ve experienced and it always helps,” Fraser said.
“I think the Sport Australia Hall of Fame is doing some marvellous things with our up and coming athletes, and I’m very happy and excited to have been asked to be a mentor.”
Ryan has a recently acquired taste of gold and silver herself, securing a first place finish in mixed pairs discipline at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa.
She also earned silver in the girls’ singles final, and is now hopeful of stepping up to senior international representation to the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
Ryan claimed the nation’s premier title last June, and pocketed a cool $16,000 in the process, when she won the 2015 Australian Open blue-ribbon women’s singles crown.
“It’s going to be a great experience to even be a part of it – to get a chance to meet Dawn Fraser and get to work with her, learn from what she has experienced and what she has achieved in her sport,“ Ryan said.
“I’d like to get to know how she felt competing at that level and how she remained calm and composed. It’ll be really good, and hopefully she teaches me a couple of tricks.”
The other four young athletes selected to be mentored by sporting greats include Diving’s Georgia Sheehan, to be mentored by Olympic gold medallist Natalie Cook OAM, Triathlon’s Jacob Birtwhistle, coming under the guidance of Australian heptathlete Glynis Nunn-Cearns, Shooting’s James Willett, who will benefit from the direction of eight-time kickboxing world champion Stan Longinidis, and Surfing’s Tayla Hanak, guided by seven-time surfing world champion Layne Beachley AO.
Sport Australia Hall of Fame chairman John Bertrand AM said the five successful scholarship recipients have demonstrated they are quality young people within sport and life in general.
“The Sport Australia Hall of Fame recognises outstanding achievements on and off the field, and it is a privilege to play a vital role in nurturing the nation’s next wave of talent – both as athletes and people,” said Bertrand.
“We congratulate our five scholarship holders, wish them well in their future endeavours, and hope these talented young Australians will get immense benefit from the experience.”
It is the vision of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame to preserve and celebrate the history of Australian sport, and to excite the next generation of Australians to achieve their full potential both in sport and life. The Scholarship and Mentoring Program is one such opportunity for the Sport Australia Hall of Fame to …
