Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate Sam Stosur on her outstanding achievement in the US Open Tennis Championships as the 2011 women's singles champion. Like many other people on the Gold Coast I am extremely proud to call Sam one of our own. Her recent win in the US Open will inspire young sports men and women around the country to pursue their dreams.

Our new champion was only eight years old when she discovered her passion for tennis. At 13 years of age, Sam represented Australia in the World Youth Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia. This marked the first time she would experience the pressure and excitement of becoming a tennis pro.

During the US Open in 2007 Sam was unable to continue past the first round because her health had deteriorated after she was diagnosed with Lyme disease and viral meningitis. This could not have happened at a worse time for the aspiring tennis player, who at the time was rocketing up the ranks. It is amazing that Sam was able to return to the same competition some four years later to walk away triumphant as the world champion.

In the year 2000, Sam was ranked 682 in the world for the singles division and in only 11 years Sam has catapulted herself, through hard work and determination, to be ranked in the top 10 of the world's best female tennis athletes. This is a truly inspirational story for all aspiring sports men and women. It proves that with determination and passion anything is possible even when faced with life's obstacles.

The Gold Coast in particular has a proud sporting culture which has no doubt helped cultivate and nurture the determination and passion that Sam clearly has. Sam is the second woman on the Gold Coast in the space of a week to impress locals, with hurdles champion Sally Pearson also claiming the top honour in her field.

The Gold Coast is home to a number of sporting clubs, including the Titans Rugby League Club, the Gold Coast Suns AFL team, the Blaze Basketball team and numerous surf lifesaving clubs, to name just a few. There is a large outdoor and sporting culture in my electorate and on the Gold Coast in general and by embracing sport more generally we move our children away from their iPads, mobile phones, computers and TV onto the fields and courts and into the pool and surf. Healthy lifestyles are therefore instilled in our children and the inspirational sporting success of Sam Stosur will certainly provide another positive role model for them.

Reflecting on Sam's tremendous effort I am again reminded of our young sporting heroes of tomorrow. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting with several of these young men and women in my electorate, as I presented them with their Local Sporting Champions certificates. These individuals were the recipients of the most recent round of Local Sporting Champions grants, where they each received a sporting grant payment of $500 from the Australian Sports Commission. The passion these young men and women have shown for their respective sports is commendable; many of them train within their sporting disciplines almost every day and spend hours attending these sessions in an effort to improve their skills. I would also like to take this opportunity to commend their parents and those who spend their time, effort and financial resources to ensure their children reach their sporting potential, particularly when many parents on the southern Gold Coast are struggling with increased hours of work and the increase in costs of living. All of the schools on the southern Gold Coast offer a variety of sporting programs. In addition to this, the Palm Beach Currumbin State High School offers sporting excellence programs for gifted and talented students, giving them the opportunity to excel in their sporting discipline in a supportive educational environment. While these students are at school they are taught by a combination of school staff members and professional coaches in their particular sporting discipline.

Achieving excellence in sport involves commitment and dedication and I am sure that Sam Stosur's US Open win will inspire the young people of the nation to not only excel in sport but also to take part in sport for the other benefits, including making friends and, most importantly, having fun. In closing, I again congratulate Sam Stosur as this years US Open women's singles champion and hope that her success will be replicated by countless more Australians in all sporting fields. Well done, Sam.

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