Nikita Rotumah was worried about her sons.
With the impacts of the pandemic hanging over her family, she decided to act. What was a small move to reconnect to her boys, became something much bigger.
The Gunditjmara and Bunitj mother of five is the mind behind the Preston community’s latest boxing class for young Aboriginal youth.
“I was lucky, I still had that outlet, I was able to train through COVID, but then I realised none of the kids did, they've been out of their sports,” she told NITV News.
"I got really worried, I couldn't get through to my sons, and I thought maybe I can start doing things for their age group.”
Nikita Rotumah and Aunty Pam Pederson at the 2022 Victorian NAIDOC Awards. Source: Andy O'Connor at Department of the Future
Into the ring
An Aboriginal youth mental health worker by trade and a boxer herself, Ms Rotumah knew the power of sport.
“I knew from work that sport was a way in, it was a way to connect. It makes it easier to talk.”
With the support of her own trainer, Ms Rotumah was able to kick off the boxing program.
“I knew there were a lot of Koorie kids getting into trouble hanging out at Northland shopping centre, so I spoke to security guards, told them if there were any issues to send the kids across to the gym,” she said.
“I want through the centre, got as many of the kids as I could and told them they were coming with me. Eight kids came with me, that’s the beauty of being a Blackfulla, you know everyone, so they knew they couldn't say no to Aunty Niki.
"They loved it, they asked if they could come again. Four more kids came the next week.”
Almost four months later, Ms Rotumah runs two programs. On Thursday nights she welcomes over 40 kids into the gym for an hour, with a free feed after.
On Tuesday, she opens the gym to young men and is in the process of creating a third class, for young women.
Dedicated entirely to the cause, Ms Rotumah poured her savings into it.
Kids involved in Nikita Rotumah's program in Preston. Source: Nikita Rotumah
“This got bigger and bigger, and it just got so chronic, the trouble these kids were getting into, I just thought I'm just going to do what I need to do,” she said.
"I'm funding the whole program out of my own pocket, buying the gloves and wraps and mouthguard for them all.”
Holding her own in the boxing industry, Ms Rotumah has been lucky to get support, including having trainers volunteer to teach the kids.
Kids training at Nikita's program in Preston. Source: Nikita Rotumah
Family values
Whilst the program was born out of Ms Rotumah’s connection to her boys, it’s built on the values her own father, the late Peter Rotumah, instilled in her.
"My Dad used to say that sport gives you a family. I've been lucky enough to have my Dad enforce that in me [and] have friendships that have lasted a lifetime through sport," she said.
"Even though that its an Aboriginal-specific program, I make sure the kids know that all their friends are welcome - it doesn't matter if they're not Blackfullas.
"I was raised in Collingwood, it was a rough area, but it was multicultural. You always had your community, that's your foundation . . . it’s important to make friendships with other cultures outside of the community.
“I was lucky to have that, and to have Dad teaching me that.”
Ms Rotumah has built, what feels like, a family in her gym.
“Everyone calls me Aunty Niki, I feel like I got all these kids, even the trainers, my brother boys who volunteer to train the kids with me call me Aunty Niki, I'm only 36!” she laughed.
"It's not just boxing, we're teaching them firm rules, discipline, how to be kind to one another, how to love one another. We're teaching them life skills, resilience, how to push through when things get hard.
"I always remind them how good they are . . . all they need is someone to encourage them, they're so used to getting told off.
"They just need one person to tell them they're doing OK, when they get praised up for doing good work, they're hungry for it.
“They’re just kids that are forced to grow up before their time.”
Girls training at Nikita's program in Preston. Source: Nikita Rotumah
From one winner to another
Ms Rotumah’s hard work and love haven’t gone unnoticed — she's been crowned Victoria's NAIDOC Sportsperson of the Year.
The ceremony, held at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, saw Yorta Yorta Elder Aunty Pam Pederson and 2019 Victorian NAIDOC Sportsperson of the Year Marissa Williamson hand the crown to Ms Rotumah.
When Ms Williamson took the mic to thank Ms Rotumah, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
"I walked into a community gym like Nikita's as a young girl in foster care, I didn't really see, back then, how much it would change my life,” she said.
The gym built Ms Williamson into a champion, but two weeks before her national boxing debut, she became homeless. Victorian NAIDOC Chair Stacie Piper took her in and supported her to continue boxing.
Marissa Williamson and Nikita Rotumah at 2022 Victorian NAIDOC Awards. Source: Andy O'Connor at Department of the Future
For Ms Williamson, it was the notion that someone believed in her that got her through.
"Boxing gave me an opportunity to surround myself with really good people, a really strong family,” she said.
"It's made me this resilient, stanch, confident and powerful Blak woman.
"To be able to get up on stage and hand that over to Nikita who has started something similar to what I was in, she's doing it right. It's really healing, what she is doing is going to change lives."
"I look forward to seeing how it goes for these young ones.”
Whilst doing it right is something that comes naturally to Ms Rotumah, the responsibility of it isn’t unknown.
"I see her, Marissa now, and what she has achieved, I kept thinking about the kids in the gym now who were Marissa,” she said.
“I'm a mother of five, you just go about business. You wake up every day and make sure everyone is taken care of. That is just how my attitude is with the kids at boxing.
"When she said that it really hit me what this means, I felt that responsibility. This program could be just the thing that one of those kids needs to get them through.”
MS Rotumah was awarded alongside Elder of the Year, Wolithiga man Uncle Henry Atkinson, Care for Country award recipient Taungurung woman Stevie-Lee Ryan, Mr NAIDOC Yorta Yorta, Wemba Wemba and Gunditjmara man Yemurraki Egan and Miss NAIDOC Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri and Trawlwoolway woman Naomi Bamblett.
Christopher Saunders, Marissa Williamson, Uncle Jack Charles and Stacie Piper at the 2022 Victorian NAIDOC Awards. Source: Andy O'Connor at Department of the Future
