A big congratulations to Niketa Loftus for her well deserved accolade as a Westfield Local Hero. Niketa works incredibly hard in the Calwell community making sure our girls from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and socio-economically disadvantaged families get a change to play netball. 

I'm so proud of the work that Niketa does in creating an inclusive and safe Calwell community and making sure our girls get an opportunity to play sport and be healthy. 

Above: Niketa Loftus with Maria Vamvakinou MP.

After volunteering to coach her daughters 9/U netball team in 2013, Niketa Loftus soon after founded the Craigieburn Thunders Netball Club that compete in the Craigieburn Netball League.

Having previously worked at Craigieburn Secondary School, Niketa had noticed that many of the students and participants within her netball club would start off in a sport and would often discontinue playing due to the finical stress.

“Some of the kids have skills but don’t have finical access to the sport. I thought if I could start fundraising to help these kids out, it would give the kids the opportunity to play,” Loftus said.

Niketa enabled access for these players through gaining sponsorship to fund uniforms, and registration, game and training fees. She went above and beyond to ensure players were able to attend games either by personally carpooling or hiring a bus to transport players.

“I contacted businesses within our community, explained our situation and what I hoped to achieve with their support. It gave these businesses the opportunity to be a part of the sporting community.”