< Back Huddle Holidays - Winter 23' Volleyball Tournament, Self Defence, Multi Art Clinic, Ice Skating Previous Next

< Back A Warm Welcome to Footy Over 1,000 participants. 83 cultures. One unforgettable day at the footy. Previous Next

The first ever Victorian State NBA Math Hoops Tournament < Back Math Hoops Regional Tournament 2023 Previous Next

How Anita Transformed Her Passion for Sport and Community into Empowering Local Youth < Back Game Changers to Community Leader Emily Maiorana 16 Aug 2024 How Anita Transformed Her Passion for Sport and Community into Empowering Local Youth The Huddle is proud to highlight the story of Anita; a former Game Changers participant who has used the skills she has developed and opportunity she obtained through the program, to engage in the Wyndham community and work with The Huddle in co-facilitating in programs. Anita is an incredible young woman from the Wyndham area, who has a strong passion for inspiring and empowering youth within her own community and understanding the importance of feeling like you belong, Anita arrived in Australia from New Zealand in 2019 and quickly found sport as a place that felt like home. Since then, Anita has engaged in many different community initiatives, volunteered at Wyndham Youth Services, and participated in The Huddle’s Game Changers program. Quickly becoming a standout participant, Anita was offered an Employment Experience position with The Huddle, working on delivering a Youth Forum in collaboration with Wyndham City Council. She continues to work with The Huddle, co-facilitating Huddle Up! Senior programs across various sites in Wyndham. Anita recently starred on 88.9 WynFM’s Mindful Moments where she spoke about all things, Game Changers, Employment and how you can get involved. Click here to hear Anita’s Story Previous Next

Download free sports themed STEM lessons to celebrate National Science Week < Back Celebrate National Science Week 31 July 2024 Download free sports themed STEM lessons to celebrate National Science Week Celebrate National Science Week (10-18 August) by experimenting with our free Science lessons that blend sport and STEM. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/90d451_5ae4a4c6b8f54708890c29d0e4aa6d86/1080p/mp4/file.mp4 Lesson #1 - Goalie Reaction Experiment Suitable for Levels 3-6 (mapped to Australian and Victorian Curriculum) The game of football requires sharp reactions. No player knows this more than the goalkeeper! They need to be nimble and quick to react. The Melbourne City goalkeepers (Sally James and Melissa Barbieri) challenge your students to a reaction test. Students work in pairs to conduct three simple experiments, each designed to test their reaction times and concentration. Students work like scientists to predict, collect, analyse, interpret, represent and discuss their data. Students will enjoy the 2v2 challenge to see if they can beat the two goalies’ reaction times. LEARN MORE Lesson #2 – Protecting Eggbert Suitable for Levels 5-7 (mapped to Australian, Victorian Curriculum and NSW Syllabus) In this lesson, students are challenged to design and prototype a helmet that can be used to keep a driver safe, learning and then applying the force formula in context. Students will receive a race driving egg named Eggbert to protect with their helmet. They will design, test, and evaluate their helmets to see who can successfully protect Eggbert on the track. LEARN MORE Previous Next

Mafan’s experience participating, volunteering, and working at The Huddle < Back Overcoming the barriers to employment Maddy Ware 11 Oct 2022 Mafan’s experience participating, volunteering, and working at The Huddle A lack of prior relevant work experience continues to be a barrier to employment for young people. This is especially the case for young people from multicultural backgrounds who must compete with cultural biases and other barriers ( VMC, 2021 ). In this current climate, young people struggle to gain work without previous paid employment experience and therefore often get into volunteer or internship roles to build their skill set. However, a lot of intern and volunteer roles are largely unpaid which leaves young people at risk of exploitation and therefore continue to struggle to gain paid employment experience. The objective of The Huddle is to bridge the gap for young people who are looking for real-world, paid employment experiences. By providing employment opportunities to young people with little experience, The Huddle can tap into the skills of diverse youth as well as nurture their development. Young people engaged with The Huddle’s Game Changers program are educated and supported to be better prepared and equipped with the skills, expertise and networks needed to integrate into the Australian workforce successfully, increasing economic inclusion, resilience and adaptability. Mafan is a 27-year-old international student from Thailand. Mafan first interacted with The Huddle when she applied for the role of Community Sport and Recreation Coordinator in January 2022. Mafan was drawn to The Huddle because she was intrigued by The Huddle’s use of sport to engage with diverse communities to improve education and employment outcomes surrounding North Melbourne and Wyndham. Mafan did not feel confident in her application and was encouraged to volunteer with The Huddle to build upon her experience. Mafan started volunteering with The Huddle in April 2022 where she supported a group of senior students to attend laser tag and bowling as part of the Huddle Holidays program. Mafan thoroughly enjoyed her experience and demonstrated excellent communication and social skills. Mafan then started volunteering with the Sports and Recreation team where she was able to combine her love of sports and community engagement. In June 2022, Mafan was offered the role of casual Program Support Officer at The Huddle. The role involved facilitating Study Squad (community homework club) across Wyndham and North Melbourne as well as Huddle Up! (sport and recreation programs) across both municipalities. During her time as a Program Support Officer, Mafan demonstrated significant growth in her confidence and leadership skills. In August 2022, Mafan was offered a five-week secondment for the role of Community Sport and Recreation Coordinator which was the original role that drew her to The Huddle. Subsequent to her volunteering experience at The Huddle, Mafan connected with the Careers Coordinator as part of the Game Changers program, in July 2022 to discuss her secondment at The Huddle and her career pathway. The Careers Coordinator coached Mafan to utilise the skills she had developed with The Huddle and keep working towards her career goals. In particular, the Careers Coordinator and Mafan explored how she could showcase her newly developed confidence to demonstrate her skills and experience in an interview setting. Through coaching delivered through Game Changers by the Careers Coordinator, Mafan was successful in obtaining a full-time role as a Graduate Consultant at Comacon. Mafan noted that she felt like the Careers Coordinator genuinely cared about her career and provided valuable insight into the nature of employment in Australia. Throughout Mafan’s journey, she identified that participating, volunteering and working across Huddle programs supported her to learn, grow and belong. Huddle staff observed the development of her skills in communication, specifically, her high-level ability to facilitate groups of younger participants and converse with the parents which demonstrated her ability to adapt her communication skill to specific audiences. Mafan identified that experiences across The Huddle scaffolded her to expand her leadership skills, confidence and independence. I felt more assured because the team at The Huddle had confidence in me, which meant I had confidence in myself. - Mafan Mafan’s newly developed confidence and communication skills helped her gain a full-time role. Not only had Mafan gained paid work experience to include in her CV. She also gained a better understanding of how to communicate her transferrable skills in an interview and therefore felt confident when applying for jobs and sharing stories with potential employers. Mafan disclosed that she was concerned about experiencing racism and discrimination in Australia. Mafan’s experience with The Huddle showcased there are supportive and culturally safe organisations in Australia and therefore her mindset changed from her first application to The Huddle back in January 2022. Mafan noted that it wasn’t until she assisted with programs such as Study Squad and Huddle Up! that she realised how many diverse communities resided in Melbourne. Mafan advised that her experience with The Huddle has given her great insight into Australian culture and workplace practices but also taught her that Australian employers, such as The Huddle, genuinely care about inclusivity. Previous Next

< Back A day at the Australian Open Watching tennis superstars up close! Jasper Menor Previous Next

< Back Diamond Days: Huddle Holidays Hits a Home Run Building confidence and teamwork, one pitch at a time. Previous Next

< Back Sanhae's Spring 2023 Spring Huddle Holiday's Program Emily Phu Previous Next

< Back From the Court to the Career: Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders The Huddle and WBA partner to empower the next generation. Fraser Moorfield and Hazel Marsh Previous Next

< Back The Huddle's biggest volleyball tournament 180 young people, 21 one teams, a smashing day. Previous Next

Two first-time participants share their Huddle Holidays experience < Back The Best Holidays Ever Previous Next