Legend on a mission to discover next star

Evonne Goolagong Cawley is proudly showing off her first ever tennis racquet — an old piece of apple crate board shaped like a bat— when she stops mid-sentence to inspect its battered edges.

It’s not much, but it’s what the former world number one learned her craft with.

Shooting a menacing look in her husband’s direction, she exclaims: ‘‘Roger has been ruining my racquet!’’

The tennis great was in Bunbury last week spreading the word of the sport as part of a national indigenous talent search.

Goolagong, a winner of 14 grand slams in her heyday during the 1970s and ’80s, will visit 24 locations around Australia running Tennis Come and Try Days which encourage children to stay in school and take up tennis.

As the children zip around the Bunbury Tennis Club with new racquets its clear technology has changed in the decades since Goolagong learned to play with the old wooden bat.

But the concept is almost identical to the way she was unearthed.

The 61-year-old is one of the most iconic names in Australian sport and her passion for the program is evident.

Growing up in the small NSW town of Barellan in a family of eight children it was a humble beginning for Goolagong and her siblings, who relied on the generosity of others to receive coaching.

‘‘My first dream was to win Wimbledon and I’ve achieved that,’’ Goolagong said.

‘‘I wouldn’t have been able to do that unless I had the support of the townspeople of Barellan.

‘‘We were the only Aboriginal family in the town, and they entered all the Goolagongs in the Victor A. Edwards Tennis School in Sydney one week each year for coaching — we couldn’t afford it.

‘‘That’s where I was found, so I know it’s important.’’

Stand out players from the Come and Try Day have the opportunity to receive tennis lessons and attend a State development camp later this year or even the Goolagong National Development Camp held annually in Melbourne during the first week of the Australian Open.

Since 2005, the national camp has awarded 19 school scholarships, produced tennis coaches, sports administrators, university scholars and has helped with employment placement.

Goolagong has pledged to return to Bunbury next year as the program expands.

‘‘Because of the towns people helping me, giving me a chance at life and finding my dream, I want to help a lot of indigenous kids out there find their dreams too,’’ she said.

‘‘What they (the town) did for me I want to do for all indigenous kids around Australia, and I’m loving every minute of it.

‘‘We have a big family already, but it’s going to get bigger.’’