MELBOURNE—A group of Aboriginal kids gather around their lifelong hero on a wind-swept tennis court in suburban Melbourne.
Listening to her every word, they watch closely as Evonne Goolagong pulls the racquet head back and gracefully follows through a mock shot, their mouths agape.
Goolagong had that effect on the tennis world at her peak.
A shy girl from a big family from the small Outback town of Barellan when she joined the tour, Goolagong went on to win seven grand slam titles among 18 finals and 92 tournament titles overall more than 25 years ago.
Now, she's on a different mission - trying to identify and nurture Australian Aboriginal youth talent in the sport through a series of national camps, where the kids can hone their skills and go on to be nationally ranked players. Or, just as importantly, turn to coaching to help the next generation.
If another Goolagong comes along, that's fine, but the lady herself says that's not the main focus of the Goolagong National Development Camps, now in their fourth year.
"It's not necessarily about making them become elite players, but coaches and even administrators," Goolagong said.
"Obviously education is very important to them as well, the whole package.
"My dream now is to set up state camps, and gradually feed into them over the years. It's all about trying to get more Aboriginal kids playing tennis."
To that end, Goolagong and her husband, Roger Cawley, have awarded through their indigenous sports foundation 10 scholarships to former camp participants at three schools on the east coast of Australia.
One of the athletes, Julie Moriarty, is playing satellite tournaments, has an Australian ranking of 33 and a WTA Tour world ranking, albeit at just over 1,000. She is the first Aboriginal woman in Australia to have a professional ranking since Goolagong.
Three camp graduates have their coaching certificates and several of the class of 2008 look like the real deal, according to Goolagong.
It's day one at this year's camp, held during the first week of the Australian Open at a high school at Box Hill.
The 14 youths aged between 10 and 21 are flown in from remote outback towns and big cities across the country and are put through a series of on-court lessons and classroom-style seminars from sports psychologists, physiotherapists, nutritionists and coaches over six days.
Tarlina Tipungwuti, 15, from the Tiwi Islands, is attending her fourth camp.
On Sunday, Dr Noel Blundell, who has been conducting research into top international athletes for several decades, is putting the camp-goers through a test that establishes their reaction time.
A light is switched on on a small control board, and the kids have to push a button under the light as soon as it comes on.
Blundell has the reaction times in similar tests for golfers like Robert Allenby and tennis players such as Pete Sampras.
"We've been collecting data for the last 25 years, and they matched up extremely well," said Blundell. "They were, as a group, comparable with the pros on tour. Their times were great across the board."
The camps, supported financially by the Australian government, were an extension of a Tennis Australia program that Goolagong was involved with when she and her family returned from living in the United States in 1992.
"When I came back, I wanted to work with young people, and the Getting Started program tried to get more young girls playing the game," said Goolagong.
"It was very successful. Tennis Australia was providing some funding for indigenous tennis, but it was for a few clinics and that's about it."
Goolagong then decided to concentrate solely on indigenous athletes. Tennis Australia wasn't involved with the program for a few years, but may come back this year in a sponsorship role.
The camps are a bit of a family affair. Former player Ian Goolagong, Evonne's brother who once teamed with his sister for a mixed double match in Centre Court at Wimbledon in 1982, is one of the coaches.
Media training is handled by Kelly Cawley, the couple's 30-year-old daughter who was born in between Goolagong's Wimbledon titles in 1971 and 1980.
"They all want to play, to learn," Ian Goolagong says. "They see Evonne, she's indigenous, she's won Wimbledon, she's here to give them some encouragement."
It worked with Kyah Stewart, an 18-year-old who attended the first three Goolagong camps and has now become a Level 1 sports coach in Foster, north of Sydney, training Aboriginal youths in all sports.
"I've known Evonne and Roger since I was 12," Stewart says. "About 18 months ago, I realised I wasn't going to be able to follow in Evonne's footsteps, so I decided to become a coach.
"She's been a very great mentor to all of us."
Blundell, who holds regular sports psychology clinics for pro golfers and tennis players, says Goolagong is a perfect role model for the kids.
"One of the things that Evonne did fantastically when she was a player was looking so graceful in the court," says Blundell.
"She picked up the ball so early and she created time for herself, as all champions do.
"There's so much outstanding potential here for such a young group. With Evonne's support, tapping into the depth of talent within the indigenous community will take them all to the next level."