BUSINESSMAN BACKS SPORTING DREAMS
ALMOST a decade after he first lent a hand to Townsville W-league star Taylor Ray, NEM Group director Bill Nochevan is determined to see another young athlete realise her dreams.
The engineering group will financially back young Townsville cycling star Sienna Monteith as she begins the long road to the Olympics.
The 12-year-old cyclist has already shown she can match it with the best, taking out two gold medals and a silver at the Queensland track championships last year and has set state records at the under-9 and under-11 age groups.
But after watching the growth of Ray, and the personal and financial sacrifices it took her family to get her to the top, Nochevan knew he had to reach out to Sienna’s father and coach, Marcus Monteith.
“It will cost Marcus a lot of money to get her around the country,” Nochevan said.
“She does mountain biking, track (cycling) and roads (cycling). She has won quite a few titles. She is 12 years old and going places.
“Sienna and Taylor are a couple of young North Queensland girls, (we are) supporting them to achieve their goals. We are a Townsville-based company and we find it important to support the local community.
“We have got to where we are today working in Townsville and we believe it’s our chance to give back. I think companies need to give back to the community.”
The NEM Group sponsored Ray all the way through her development years until she finally cracked the top tier of women’s football, in Australia, the WLeague, when she turned 17.
Sienna, who met Ray for the first time yesterday, said it was inspiring to see a female athlete from Townsville reach the upper echelon of her sport.
“It is pretty inspirational to see other women achieve their goals, and that is what I want to do,” Monteith said.
“It is really important (to get the NEM Group support) and I love that they have done that. It is so good to have financial support to get to all of those races.”