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UQNEWS, FEBRUARY 2009 ➔ 22SPORTJEREMY PATTENNetball glory beckonsUQ journalism graduate andnetballer Jacqueline Russell ispaving her way to a career insports journalism after beingaccepted into the AustralianInstitute of Sport.Miss Russell graduated last year from aBachelor of Journalism and joined the AIS lastmonth, after being introduced to netball at ageeight. Her goal is to become a sports journalistand help increase the popularity of women’s sportin the media.“Through being involved in sport for a numberof years, I have realised that every athlete has aspecial or unique story, whether it be why theybecame involved in their sport, the challengesthey have faced and overcome or the people whohave influenced them,” Miss Russell said.“I think exploring these stories as a sportsjournalist would make an extremely interestingand satisfying career.“Being at the AIS will help me achieve mycareer goals as it means I will constantly bearound athletes and not just netballers, butpeople from a wide range of sports.“I will hopefully be doing an internship with theAIS media department while I’m in Canberra. Theinternship would be very valuable for my career.”Miss Russell will balance work commitmentswith morning and evening court sessions as wellas fitness, strength and conditioning training.“It’s a fairly rigorous program, so fitting inwork commitments will be tough but a goodchallenge,” she said.Miss Russell intends to use her AIS trainingas a stepping-stone into an ANZ Championshipteam such as the Queensland Firebirds.“It will also lead to international exposure, aswe are going on tours to New Zealand, SouthAfrica and the Cook Islands,” she said.During her final year of studies at UQ, MissRussell was fortunate enough to travel to the 2008Olympic Games in Beijing as a volunteer cadet.Twenty-one UQ students were given theopportunity to participate as reporters working forthe Olympic News Service.The students’ main role was to gatherresponses from athletes directly after theircompetitions and rush them to foreign journalists.“We got to interview all sorts of differentathletes, climb the Great Wall and I even metUsain Bolt,” Miss Russell said.“I have realised thatevery athlete has aspecial or unique story”STEWART GOULDCHAMPION BOWLSOVER OPPOSITIONOne thing Malaysian UQ studentMimi Mohamed didn’t expect whenmoving to Australia was to becomea lawn bowls champion, but she hasdone just that after a crackerjackclub fours win with the ToowongBowls Club.Ms Mohamed, who moved to Australia fromher Malaysian home state of Johor last July,said the victory came after only six weeks ofofficial training with the club.“When I moved to Australia I was determinedto join a bowls club, as Australia is one of theleading countries in the game and I wanted tolearn from the experts,” she said.Ms Mohamed’s humble training history,which involved bowling along a roll of carpet laidout in a hallway, and her suspected standing asthe only traditional Muslim player in Queensland,makes her victory all the more exceptional.“In Johor, the closest green was an houraway, so even though lawn bowls is popularin Malaysia, the opportunity to practise is verylimited,” Ms Mohamed said.“I was chosen to play in the championshipwhen they saw me practising during a ‘Get onthe Green’ session.”Bowls Queensland representative Mr BillCornehls said Ms Mohamed’s win representeda victory for the multicultural aspect of thegame and the Get on the Green program.“Lawn bowls is a sport that doesn’tdiscriminate against culture, gender, age,religion, disability or any other beliefsand Mimi’s win shows that it is an equalopportunity sport,” Mr Cornehls said.“Get on the Green is a Bowls Australiainitiative designed to invite beginners ontothe green and challenge the idea that thegame is only for older people.”INFO ➔ To find out more contact(07) 3870 1616