| The team from Woolyungah Indigenous Centre are pictured in their colo... The team from Woolyungah Indigenous Centre are pictured in their colourful jerseys with Dean of Education, Professor Paul Chandler (middle row, far right) |  | UOW’s winning Woolyungah Indigenous Centre team are pictured wi... UOW’s winning Woolyungah Indigenous Centre team are pictured with their trophy at the closing ceremony with Dean of Education (far left), Professor Paul Chandler. | 
| Pictured at the opening ceremony are (l to rHead of the Wollongong In... Pictured at the opening ceremony are (l to rHead of the Wollongong Indigenous Association, Layne Brown; special guest Tony Mundine; Group General Manager (People) from Qantas, Carmel Macpherson; Media and Sponsorship Co-ordinator, Sarah Noel and Games Organiser, Mitchell Thompson | 
| The 12th annual Games attracted hundreds of university students from ... The 12th annual Games attracted hundreds of university students from across Australia |
UOW wins National Indigenous Games
3 Oct 2007 | Renee Criddle
The University of Wollongong’s Woolyungah Indigenous Centre team has won this year’s National Indigenous Tertiary Education Student Games.
UOW also hosted the annual event, which attracted a range of Indigenous sporting celebrities and university students from across the country.
The Games have become a major event in the Indigenous university student calendar that started in 1996 as a joint-class project for 13 students and now attracts hundreds from a range of institutions each year.
The event comprises sport, social events and the sharing of culture.
The Games are made up of four sports – volleyball, touch football, netball and basketball.
All teams are mixed with at least three players competing in each team at any one time. All participants also play a traditional local Indigenous game.
This year, the event’s major sponsor was Qantas. Support was also provided by UOW’s Woolyungah Indigenous Centre, the Student Health Alliances for Rural Populations (SHARP) and the Wollongong Undergraduate Students’ Association (WUSA).
Special guests included:
* Tony Mundine – father and trainer of World Super Middleweight Champion, Anthony Mundine. Tony was a middleweight contender during the 1970s and during his career held Australian national titles in the Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight divisions.
* South Sydney Rabbitohs player, Dean Widders, who was recently awarded NRL’s Ken Stephen’s Medal for his positive work with youth in the community. Dean was also recently appointed to the Federal Government’s National Indigenous Council. He has played for the Sydney Roosters and Parramatta Eels.
* Bo Della Cruz from the Australian Women’s Touch Football team
A range of representatives from UOW, Qantas and the Aboriginal community also attended the opening and closing ceremonies.
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