ASH BARTY’S OUR SUPERHERO!
Ststudentsdt att hher fformer schoolhl thithinkk the world number one is just ace!
Tahlia Priest is just nine years old, but already the ambitious Year 4 Woodcrest State College student has made up her mind what to be when she grows up.
“I want to be just like Ash Barty! She went to my school, and I walk through the same gate she once did, and I get to sit in the same classroom as my hero!” she says.
Tahlia and fellow students from the college were bursting with excitement last week when they sent a heartwarming chorus of herograms to their
school’s best-known graduate.
“Ash is a proud Aboriginal woman and she’s helped me to embrace my Indigenous background,” says Year 6 student ent Jonny Hoad.
“She got straight As, and she still got to be number one in the world. That will be me – except I’ll be the best basketballer in the universe!”
This remarkable group of youngsters from the Springfield public school in the Queensland city of Ipswich don’t care whether their Ash wins or loses, because they all agree, it’s how you play the game that matters.
“She’s not a brat like some of those bad boys in tennis,” declares Year 4 student Georgina Mckenzie. “My little brother Seamus can be a bit of a brat
– so I hope he has learned it’s not cool to be naughty!”
Ash, 23, is inspiring a new generation of tennis fans, since relaunching her career after taking time out to play professional cricket when she found it hard to cope with the pressure that came with winning junior Wimbledon at just 15.
Year 1 student Lara Rykiert dreams of one day meeting her favourite pin-up girl.
“Come back and visit us soon Ash and maybe we can have a game of tennis. We want you to know we love you, and you are the bestest champion ever!”