00:00Walking hand in hand, basketball is a family affair for this team made up of sisters, cousins
00:10and friends with Dad Phil as the coach.
00:13The 500 kilometre journey from central NSW to the nation's capital has become an annual
00:19pilgrimage.
00:20It gets kids out of community, gets them connected with other mob down this way and they get
00:25to make new friends.
00:27It's an opportunity many from regional areas don't often get.
00:30I've moved away recently so coming back and connecting with all my mob and getting to
00:35see everybody, getting to reconnect with them, it's really important to me.
00:40Bringing together as a team, being one mob for the weekend.
00:46They're just one of more than 100 teams invited by the ACT's Winoonga Warriors Basketball
00:51Club competing in this year's NAIDOC tournament.
00:55The grassroots initiative began more than seven years ago, but organisers say the event
01:00is now more important than ever following last year's failed voice referendum.
01:05As non-Indigenous Australians, I feel like they need to embrace Aboriginal and Torres
01:09Strait Islander culture as part of their own, as part of being Australian.
01:13That's really important.
01:14Reconciliation is a great way to do that and basketball is the vehicle that we're using
01:19to do that.
01:20Warriors of every background and culture are encouraged to take the court to pass on knowledge.
01:25If we don't share it then it doesn't live on and it's really important for it to live
01:31on because there's not much around.
01:34Bringing mob together, the ultimate goal.
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