Cooktown Salties players Hartlyn and Shine Corea are thrilled to shoot some hoops with Australian basketball legend Cayla George this weekend. Photo: Supplied.
One of Australia’s most decorated female basketball players is coming to Cooktown to inspire young girls and women in the community this weekend.
WNBA and WNBL champion, and three-time Olympian and bronze medallist Cayla George will lead a basketball clinic on 21 June and a female mentorship session on 22 June.
Hosted by the Cooktown Salties basketball team and Cook Shire Council, the event is free and open to girls aged 11-17 years old.
Cooktown Salties coach Ashton Viranatuleo said it was exciting for the girls to have a strong female role model who understood their experiences as athletes in a remote community.
“She is one of the biggest Australian basketballers there is; just to be able to get people of that calibre is amazing,” she said.
“Cayla is from Cairns, her husband is a Torres Strait Islander, so they are used to community, and they understand the challenges that you have in communities.
“Being remote, it makes it challenging anyway, but then also, you throw in the female side of it, too, and it just makes it difficult as a whole.”
Viranatuleo said although basketball was a huge feature of the weekend, participants did not have to be well-versed at shooting hoops.
“Basketball is obviously the thing that kind of brings everyone together, but then on the Sunday, we’ve got plans to hear from Cayla and her story,” she said.
“We’ve got kids from different sports up here; there’s a lot of basketball kids, but we’ve got a few of the swimming kids that are going to be a part of it, and some of the athletics kids.
“We’re trying to get kids involved from different areas, just so she can empower girls as a whole.”
Sunday’s mentoring session will step away from basketball for the girls to learn about nutrition and self-care.
“She’s planning on cooking some easy recipes with them to show them ways to eat healthy and look after themselves,” Viranatuleo said.
“We’ve also got some stuff planned around looking after their skin, you know, doing little facials, and give them a whole thing on being able to look after your body.”
