Bushrangers basketball club have become a beacon of inclusivity for several Australians who have long-struggled with one of sport's ugly truths.
Founded by Stella Lesic, the community club aim to spread positivity across the country and have become a home for many of their 300 participants in each state.
"I’m very much a picked-last-for-sport kind of person and through being involved in this community - which is so supportive and inclusive - I feel like I’m unpacking decades of trauma," Bushrangers player Fiona told SBS Sport.
"I cry after most games … we played a team not that long ago and they let me get a goal at the end and it was just, like - no one ever does that.
“There are so many ways in which, in Australia, you’re excluded if you’re not a top sporty-type person. I never was, I’ve always been kind of unfit, kind of nerdy and I feel like I’ve found a home.”
Fiona's feelings are exactly what Lesic had hoped to tap into following their move from Brisbane to Melbourne.
"Essentially, it started because I didn’t have any mates," said Lesic, who is also the club's president.
"I’d moved from Brisbane to Melbourne and I thought, ‘I love basketball, I’m mate-less, what am I going to do?’
"So, I really wanted to create a space in basketball where people could come even if they felt like they didn’t know how to play.”
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Incorporating both basketball and roller-skating, the Bushrangers were set up to bring people together and have since allowed players to shed themselves of any anxieties they may have endured with other teams.
“That energy I would normally spend worrying about whether I’m safe or if I can be free about myself just goes away and I can focus on just playing basketball," Bushranger Richo said.
"There’s no spotlight on my gender, there’s no debate on whether I’m allowed to play."
The healthy environment the club have created is one open to all, according to Lesic, and is a point of difference all community organisations, clubs and associations should look to emulate.
"At its core, Bushrangers is about inclusion and not just LGBTIQ+ inclusion, it’s everybody," Lesic added.
"Bushrangers is a sporting club but it is a real thin veneer of a sporting club and underneath that is: community, friendship and family.
"We do turn up and play sport but really it’s about connection. We hear lots of stories from the players about times they’ve had to rely on the club and other players to help them out day-to-day.
"So, what does it do for the community? It provides a space for people where they didn’t otherwise have that connection and that’s essentially what we’re all about.”
