Benjamin Millar
Australian table tennis champion Melissa ‘Milly’ Tapper has shared tales of her Olympic journey with a group of starstruck Melton West pupils.
Tapper, 31, became the first Australian athlete to qualify for both the Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics when she headed to the Rio games in 2016.
She was also selected for both the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Tapper joined Arnolds Creek Primary School pupils in a live video chat from Japan last week, popping into the virtual classroom as part of the Victorian Institute of Sport’s ‘Be Fit. Be Well’ program.
“Getting to present to schools while in Japan gave me the perfect outlet to fill the time and reconnect with back home,” she said.
“Seeing the excitement on the kids’ faces and how many questions they had about the games and my preparations for the Paralympics was awesome.”
Arnolds Creek Primary School teacher Kaitlyn Foley said that since Tapper’s talk, the pupils have been excitedly posting to their online learning portal about the experience.
“The session with Milly was fantastic,” she said.
“She was so engaging and able to set the conversation to the maturity level of our students.
“Our teachers and students have been speaking all about the session and our grade 5/6s are counting down the days until the Paralympic competitions begin – with Milly being the star athlete they want to be following.”
The Victorian Institute of Sport’s ‘Be Fit. Be Well’ program encourages primary and secondary school students to stay active and lead a healthy lifestyle.
VIS community programs co-ordinator Camilla Blands said the program has been running for more than 20 years, helping promote physical activity and its links to wellbeing.
“The program features live virtual classroom chats and pre-recorded presentations with elite athletes from the Victorian Institute of Sport,” she said.
“Key topics are tailored for specific school year levels and include motivation, resilience, goal setting, coping with pressure, health and nutrition.”
