Being born in Indonesia, my first racquet sport growing up was actually badminton. However, I switched codes to tennis when I moved to Australia (Sydney first) where there is not much badminton courts to be found then. This lead to me joining Tennis Sydney, which is Sydney’s LGBTQIA+ tennis club. Tennis Sydney is where I found my “tribe” after coming out in my late twenties, whilst still satisfying my urge to play tennis, whether socially or competitively.

Fast forward 2014 when I moved to Hobart, Tasmania for love. I was yearning for my “tribe” again and this led me to first start a Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance (GLTA) tournament in 2017, aptly named Hobart Out Tennis Tournament. The tournament grew year on year and by 2020, our little rag tag group was big enough and ready to get affiliated with Tennis Australia as a full service tennis club. I had the honour to be part of the committee since inception to hold various roles until 2024. I took a little break in 2024-25 club year and now back to being Vice President.

I love this little club that we created and built over the years. The club was built on a safe place to come together to play tennis and hang out. I believe we have achieved that and I myself learnt a lot over the years from the club. I am happy to continue to serve the club to maintain a safe and inclusive place for everyone, including LGBTQIA+ community and their allies, to play tennis and build a community from it.