6 days ago
Basketball team resurrected to help build kids' dreams in remote WA town of Leonora
Most nights in Leonora are filled with the sound of basketballs hitting the concrete.
It's the sound of a small outback town coming back from adversity.
About 800 kilometres east of Perth, Leonora has many problems: limited opportunities, crime and high rates of youth suicide.
It also has one basketball team, the Blazers.
The Blazers were resurrected by Rene Reddingius, affectionately called "Pop" by Leonora children, who high-five him when they see him in the streets.
He runs the basketball program with the help of his partner Shelley.
Almost a decade ago, six Aboriginal youth took their own lives over an 18-month period in the town of about 1,500 people.
So in 2017, Rene — a Pirni man — left his job with the WA Commissioner for Children and Young People to return to his country, the Goldfields, to make a change.
"We were the hotspot for the world," Rene said.
Rene knew what pain felt like, "having a hell of a time trying to survive 2004", after recovering from an attack.
"I survived by coming to my country at my darkest hour," he said.
"On my country … contemplating my future, I ended up walking back into camp, and I've become the man that I am today, and I will always walk with strong sense of purpose."
And it's that sense of purpose that he wants to help young people on his country to find.
Resurrecting the old Blazers team, which he founded in 1991, gives Rene a way to reach them.
He says the majority of children in the remote Goldfields town are "at risk", often facing additional socio-economic challenges, but that shouldn't limit or determine what they can achieve.
Rene says there's no "miracle work', it's just about giving children the skills, strength and support to make the best choices for themselves.
"You've got to do the actions that will make the difference, the choices at the crossroads," he said.
"It's: 'Don't jump in that stolen car, driven by your cousin'. It's: 'Don't take that substance that's been offered at the party by your boyfriend.'"
The basketball program has given a new direction to the lives of many Leonora children, such as captain Amber Thomas.
She lived in the neighbouring ghost town of Gwalia and used to walk one hour into town for "muck-up games" when the program restarted.
Amber had a full house where she was "like a big sister to her big sisters," and a full head.
"Pop" Rene and the Blazers became her second family.
"He's my safe space when I don't have a safe space," Amber said.
On the basketball court she stopped saying "I can't do it" and, now a youth worker, she's guiding other teens, just a little younger than her.
"Push through and see how far you can get," she said.
Blazers look up to Amber and the other captain, McKye Blake, who's also her partner.
"When the kids think about what a healthy relationship looks, they think like Amber and McKye," she smiles.
McKye used to get in trouble, but staying in the team helped him stay in school and he's now an apprentice boilermaker.
Being a role model "puts a lot of pressure" on McKye, who has to "act like a leader".
But basketball has taught him pressure can shape character.
"Going into these areas we don't feel comfortable. Like, going through, helps you become better," McKye said.
The Blazers' training starts without Rene, with the children taking it upon themselves to lead the warm-up session.
Anyone who's late, including Rene himself, runs laps.
It's about accountability but also hard work.
"If you have the bar low, people can fall over it."
Every Blazer player is expected to set and achieve goals, cheered on, and held accountable, by the entire team.
It's something Leonora mother Naomi Sprigg dos Santos appreciates.
"I think it's vital for children who come from trauma and often times dysfunction to know that life can be predictable and to have a routine," she said.
"Rene offers that in the program. There is a predictability about his training, there's a predictability about his expectations."
Ms Sprigg dos Santos thinks relationships play a huge part in the success he's having.
For Rene, the "life-skill program" must try to engage families, and the whole community.
"They have shared memories, and instead of dropping a kid off at a program, you can go and do stuff with them," he said.
Wongai grandmother Samantha Banks is an ex-basketball player and current supporter, touring with the team when she can to see her grandchildren playing.
"It keeps us all together, me, the kids," she said.
"My nana comes and watches me play, cheers me on and makes me confident," Aliahky smiles shyly.
Ms Banks said basketball was teaching her grandchildren how to want to be on time, organised, but, most importantly, on the right path.
"He can take his little anger or whatever on the courts," she said.
It is one positive message, reinforced on the court, at school, and at home, that Rene wants children to internalise.
The Blazers have been touring the state.
Rene says they are big opportunities for small-town children, and their peers who have fallen through the cracks are taking notice.
But if the basketball program is taking them places, it's because it's a grassroots movement.
Rene's father, who's also called Rene, but is better known as "Sir", taught four generations of Leonora youth.
"They respond to you as the relationship you've built," he says.
Families, the shire CEO and the school principal say having familiarity and continuity makes the program more successful than anything that could be offered by a visiting service.
Choosing to return to his home town and stay, Rene has helped it to bounce back.
Even if he decides to leave, the once under-confident Amber is ready to step up.
"My dreams and hopes for Blazers is, let me just say, me working for them, being a big boss of Blazers," she smiled.
"One day, I will get there."
