Scholarship Committee
The Scholarship and Mentoring Program (S&MP) Selection Committee is responsible for considering all applications that meet the eligibilty criteria and submitting final successful applicants to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame (SAHOF) Board for ratification.
The SAHOF S&MP Selection Committee comprises of up to five SAHOF Members, up to one additional expert, up to two SAHOF staff Members (including the Manager) and the SAHOF CEO.
Sue Stanley OAM – Chair
Sue has a career that lasted from 1991 to 1994 and a comeback in 2000; she single-handedly took sport aerobics from the health clubs of Australia to the world stage when she was crowned World Sport Aerobics Champion on three consecutive occasions.
Sue began winning gold medals on the international sport aerobics stage early in 1993. Her successive wins at the International Aerobic Federation World Aerobic Championships in 1993 made her the only woman in the history of the sport ever to successfully to defend a World Title. Sue’s incredible sporting achievements soared to an unparalleled level with her win in the 1994 World Aerobic Championships in Las Vegas. Her dream of becoming the only aerobic athlete to win three World Championships became a reality.
So dominant was Sue Stanley in the sport aerobics that she was undefeated both at a national and international level for four years. Amassing an amazing 35 consecutive wins, including three World Championship titles, numerous international titles and eight Australian and national championships. Without a doubt, Sue Stanley is the queen of her sport.
However, Sue is not only an Aerobics star. She is a unique individual who has been able to represent her country at the highest level, in four different sports. As a child she began her sporting career at the Australian Institute of Sport in the Australian gymnastic team, the versatile Sue then turned her talents to water-skiing and was able to represent Australia again at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. In a brilliant comeback in November 2000 at the Olympia World Championship, Sue, after a five-year retirement from all international sport, stunned the sporting world by winning gold and becoming the 2000 Ms Fitness World Champion.
Sue has now turned her attention to encouraging Australians and citizens of the World of all ages to take care of themselves and enjoy life to the fullest. Sue is a believer in the ‘sport for all’ principle. Her immediate aim is to utilise her current status and profile to deliver motivating, basic health and fitness messages to a broad cross-section of the community; reaching people who may otherwise not be inclined to participate.
Sue is considered one of the leading Australian women in sport. A recipient of a Medal of the Order (OAM) of Australia for service to sport, a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, an Australia Day Ambassador, and is the recipient of the Advance Australia Award for her ongoing contribution to sport.
Achievements
- 1998: Inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame
- 2006: Appointed to Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Selection Committee
- 2006: Appointed Chair of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Selection Committee
Lauren Burns OAM – Athlete Member
Lauren Burns won the first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo when the sport made its debut as a full medal sport at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
She has a Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy), is a mother of two gorgeous children and is the author Fighting Spirit and her self-published cookbook Food from a Loving Home.
Lauren was awarded the Order of Australia in 2001 and has a string of international titles and achievements to her name. She conducts regular motivational presentations, active workshops and health and wellness programs and individual performance coaching, throughout Australia and abroad.
Lauren is currently working with the Gold Medal Ready program run through the Australian Institute of Sport, assisting athletes preparing for Tokyo and Paris. Lauren is completing her PhD in lifestyle practices and mindset of elite athletes at RMIT University and has published papers of her work in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. She is furthering this work by conducting research on interpersonal relationships in sport with the AIS.
Achievements
- 2017: Inducted into The Sport Australia Hall of Fame
- 2019: Appointed to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program Selection Committee
Belinda Clark AO – Athlete Member
Belinda Clark AO was a prolific, right-handed, opening batter who, across her career amassed 919 Test runs at an average of 45.90 and 4,844 One Day International (ODI) runs at 47.49. She was appointed Captain of the Australian Cricket Team in 1994 – at just 23 years old – which was a position she held for eleven years which included victorious ICC Women’s World Cup tournaments in 1997 and 2005. She holds the record for most matches as Captain of the Australian Team (101 games at a winning rate of 83%) and remains the only Australian in cricket history to score a double century in an ODI innings. In domestic competition, Clark won five Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) championships with New South Wales and two with Victoria.
Clark is widely considered a pioneer of the game and one of the greatest female players to play the game. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, the second ever into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, with her accomplishments on the field matched by her contribution of it through her efforts to grow the game as an administrator on the Executive at Cricket Australia and as a member of the ICC Women’s Committee.
Upon retirement, she became the first female head of the Bupa National Cricket Centre (formerly the Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence) overseeing the development of Australia’s best young male and female cricketers, then turned her attention to grassroots sport as Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager, Community Cricket.
Clark has a degree in Applied Science (Physiotherapy), experience in sports administration across multiple roles and in 2015 attended the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.
In 2017 she was appointed to the Board of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, in 2018, appointed to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program Selection Committee and in 2020 she founded The Leadership Playground.
Achievements
- 1992: Graduated University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science, Physiotherapy
- 1998: Wisden Australia Cricketer of the Year
- 1998: Appointed Assistant Development Manager at Cricket New South Wales
- 2000: Appointed CEO of Women’s Cricket Australia
- 2000: Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
- 2005: Appointed as Senior Manager, Team Performance at Cricket Australia
- 2008: Inducted into NSW Hall of Champions
- 2011: Inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame
- 2011: Inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame
- 2014: Inaugural female inductee to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame
- 2015: Graduated Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program
- 2017: Appointed to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Board
- 2018: Appointed as Executive General Manager, Community Cricket at Cricket Australia
- 2018: Appointed to Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program Selection Committee
- 2018: Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
- 2020: Founded, The Leadership Playground
Bonnie Elliott – Scholarships & Operations Manager
Sport Australia Hall of Fame
Bonnie Elliott is a specialist in Program and Operations Management. During her studies completing a Bachelor degree in Business, major in Sports Management, Bonnie worked for multiple organisations in order to gain extensive knowledge in a range of sporting areas. After graduation, Bonnie started working for National Sporting Organisation, Table Tennis Australia as the National Event Manager.
Bonnie played a major role in developing, organising, and managing a range of elite, prestigious international events for both the able-bodied and para athlete programs. She contributed to managing some of the best international events Table Tennis Australia had ever hosted.
After four years of building the events program, she moved into the corporate and Government industry to gain a wider range of experience with Programs and Sponsors.
Not long after, Bonnie took the opportunity to move interstate to fulfil her career aspirations and is now positioned as the Scholarships and Operations Manager for the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
As Scholarships and Operations Manager, Bonnie takes on a number of roles within the organisation that includes the expansion of the Scholarship and Mentoring Program, refreshing the Induction & Awards Program, staff and operational management and plays a key role in being first point of contact for Members; Scholarship Holders and Sponsors.
Chris Little – Heritage Coordinator
Sport Australia Hall of Fame
Chris pursued his passion for sport in 2012 when he started a Bachelor’s degree in Sport and Recreation Management. Throughout his studying years he completed placement work at the Western Bulldogs as a Heritage Cadet.
In his final years of study at Victoria University, Chris completed his final work placement at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in the redevelopment of the selection process, statistical and historical information. Due to the major role and influence Chris had on this redevelopment, he was offered a more permanent role at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as the Heritage Coordinator.
Chris is responsible for overseeing the entirety of the Member selection process. This includes researching all Australian sport, collaborating with relevant sporting bodies, manage, maintain and expand the; committee guidelines, selection paperwork and nomination forms. The role maintains the integrity and neutrality of the office in the selection process and publishing of the selection documents.
His statistical analysis skills, research skills and broader historical knowledge is a valuable asset to Sport Australia Hall of Fame.