Water polo star is young, black and proud to represent her culture

As one of only a few Indigenous players in Australian water polo, fifteen-year-old Kali-yah Taafili Taoso is proud to represent her people and culture on the highest level.

With gold and silver medals in both state and national competitions under her belt and after a stellar performance at the 2022 Water Polo Australia Under 20 Summer Slam, Taafili is an inspiration. So, it’s no surprise that we named Taafili one of our 2021 Young, Black and Proud scholarship winners.

Being one of the few Indigenous players in the sport may be daunting for some, but not Taafili. Representing her community and also becoming an ambassador for Indigenous youth is something she takes very seriously.

“My goal is to encourage other Indigenous youth to learn to swim and to keep fit and healthy.”

“I would love to get more kids involved in this amazing sport. I also want to be able to give back to the community and give free sessions in water polo,” she said.

“Generally I am a very positive person. I want to be able to help kids like me get into sport and not be afraid to fail”.

Taafili plans to use her scholarships funds to help pay for upcoming national and state competitions and to inspire other kids to take up the sport.

We recently celebrated Taafili and the other scholarship winners at an awards ceremony at the State Library of Queensland. Our partner, the Queensland Family and Child Commission co-hosted the event.

We award the scholarship annually and celebrate the achievements of Indigenous youth across the areas of academics, arts and sports.

Taafili was one of five sports scholarship recipients in this round of winners, alongside five academic and three arts winners.

Read more about our other 2021 winners here.