I was 9 years old when I first stepped foot onto a tennis court – Court 1 at West Brunswick Tennis Club. I remember my sister first started playing, and like most younger sisters, I wanted to follow in her footsteps. If Sherry was playing tennis, I wanted to play tennis. If Sherry wanted a DS, I wanted a DS. If Sherry barracked for North Melbourne, I barracked for North Melbourne...

While some of her influences may have been worse than others, tennis was without a doubt not one of them. My relationship with tennis is everlasting, yet inconsistent. I love the sport and will always love the sport. However, there have definitely been times in my life when I have stopped playing due to costly lesson prices or because I felt like I needed to focus on other areas of my life. Despite these momentary lapses of judgement, I am glad to say that tennis has and will always be a part of my life. Whether it was playing tennis, coaching students to play tennis, working at the Australian Open, watching the Australian Open, playing Tennis Clash, or making a tennis ball collecting robot, tennis is a part of me. Therefore, it only makes sense that my obsession with the sport would also be the catalyst for something much greater. Something that could really make a difference in our world. Something called Ludis.

Around twelve years ago, my 12-year-old self realised for the first time that tennis balls couldn’t be used indefinitely. This baffled me, as I couldn’t quite understand why there was no solution to this issue. Seven months ago, I was shocked in learning the actual figure - an average of 10 million tennis balls enter Australian landfill each year. Five months ago, my co-founders Elijah, Ryan, and I started to delve deeper. We realised that this wasn’t just a problem - it was a problem we were capable of solving. Four months ago, we realised the true gravity of the issue - sporting ball waste issues weren’t unique to tennis, but actually prevalent in most sports. Mind-blowing. Such a massive industry, with such massive waste issues. It was obvious. Just like that we decided we were going to do something about it, about all of it.

Our Central Mission

To drive systemic change towards a sustainable future in the sporting industry.

Starting off with, Mission 1

Tennis Balls

Given we manage to successfully make a significant impact on reducing waste in the tennis industry, our next step will be to explore repurposing other types of used sporting balls.

Mission 2

Footballs? Basketballs? Dodgeballs? Or…

Join Us

A long road ahead awaits Elijah, Ryan, and I, but it is one we welcome and one we cannot wait to travel and continue travelling. If you also want to see a sustainable Australian sporting future, we urge you to drop off your old sporting balls at one of the many drop off bins at your local Rebel store.

In the next 2 weeks, we will be hearing about Ryan and Elijah’s connection to Ludis, and our solution to Mission 1 - Tennis.

To follow our journey more closely, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn!

Score for the Earth