First Nations rising stars eye big futures

JORDAN Korp and Junior Whyman have received the Bendigo Health Young Indigenous Awards for their efforts on the netball court and football field respectively.

Whyman plied his trade for the Wedderburn FNC, constantly taking on adults as a member of the club’s reserves team and part of the engine room that saw the Redbacks make it into last season’s finals.

Whyman said he was excited to receive the award and has his sights set on a bright future.

“It feels amazing, it was nice to be able to get up there,” he said. “Hopefully I can stick to training and playing football and eventually make the AFL.”

Meanwhile, young goal shooter Korp had an outstanding season for Marong Netball Club’s Under 15s, claiming the side’s finals MVP award as well as being selected in the Loddon Valley Football Netball League’s representative side.

Korp was equally as excited to pick up her award, and also had high goals for her sporting future.

“It feels really good, I am pretty happy with it,” she said. “I would love to play Suncorp Netball one day and then play for Australia.”

As for the teams the pair would like to represent in the future, they picked a pair of bitter rivals.

“I follow Essendon. I would love to don the red and black one day,” Hyman said.

It’s the white and black stripes that Korp envisions for her future, listing Collingwood as her dream Suncorp Netball team to one day represent.