Kylie Newman has held a racquet at the Burdekin Sugar Bowl since she was 14 years old, an event she has always admired since being coached by the competition’s founders, Lex and Pat Anderson. With a family love for the sport, Kylie reminisces on watching her parents play in the annual Sugar Bowl event, eagerly waiting on the sidelines until she was old enough to join a team herself.
“My whole family plays tennis, and both my parents were in a Sugar Bowl team each year, and I always knew it was a great weekend that I always wanted to play in,” expressed Kylie.
Once Kylie turned 14, she joined a B Grade Sugar Bowl team captained by Rosie Hanson. Running a full circle, Kylie stands as the current captain of 20 years of Rosie’s team, with many of the original players still making the trip back to the Burdekin each year from as far as Brisbane to join in on the Sugar Bowl event.
“Rosie would always give the younger players a go in her team and that’s where we’d get our start, and then as we’d become better players, we would graduate on to join a different team,” explained Kylie.
“The original team was handed to a number of different ladies, and one of them was Tanya Bartlet, and when she moved away, she passed the team to me, and I’ve had it ever since.”
The team has become a family affair with Kylie’s sister and cousins continuing the Stockdale and Davies’ passion for tennis. Like many participants in the Burdekin Sugar Bowl, Kylie looks forward to the event each year for the social aspects more so than the competition.
“Our team is made up of a lovely group of ladies, and we don’t see each other any other time of the year than the Sugar Bowl, and we always have a great catch up over the 3 days.
“I love that you can play a session, be terrible, and it doesn’t matter because every session you start fresh, and the Sugar Bowl is all played in great spirits, and Lex and Pat were always great advocates for good sportsmanship and the friendships that are developed in playing tennis, and the Sugar Bowl is such a wonderful representation of their legacy.”
Many of the event’s organisers commend Kylie for her sportsmanship and captaincy abilities. 30 years on from Kylie’s first Sugar Bowl match, she still rides the highs of her own wins as well as celebrating her friends and family’s achievements, however, if there’s no trophy in her hands at the end of a competition, Kylie swears it’s due to her long-standing vendetta against the Home Hill winds.
Cousin photo Brooke Davies and Kylie Newman
Five members of the Davies family make up the Post Card Lifers team! Photos supplied
