Global Sports Mentoring Program

Community advocate using football to promote inclusion in New Zealand

Eilish Graves has been a sports administrator, volunteer, coach, athlete, and academic. Currently, Eilish serves as the Academy Operations Manager for the Wellington Phoenix Football Club, the first and only professional football academy for women in New Zealand. On top of her day to day role, her mission is to ensure a safe training environment for all athletes and to provide equal access to sports for individuals from marginalized groups, such as the disability community, refugees, and LGBTIQ+ communities. Eilish believes it is important to give all athletes a voice and ensure they are supported, respected, and empowered.

Eilish is passionate about using sports, especially football, to bring people together thanks to the different ways it can be more inclusive of others. In 2019, Eilish was appointed the New Zealand Deaf Football Women’s Head Coach for Futsal. In 2022, the Football for All Programme, an initiative Eilish drove on behalf of Wellington Phoenix, to promote diversity and inclusion, was awarded the Wellington Sport & Recreations Award following the Wellington Airport Regional Community Award one year earlier. Football for All currently supports more than 200 young people from recent immigrant/refugee and low socio-economic communities to play football through their local clubs. Following the tremendous success of this program and its importance in the community, the program has now expanded to Christchurch.

While participating in the GSMP, Eilish hopes to learn how sports clubs in the United States implement strategies for making events and game day experiences, and website/social media accessible for all fans. She also would like to build upon her communication experience and learn new strategies to better influence change. She is excited to build a network within the GSMP program to collaborate and support each other beyond the program end date.

Eilish will be mentored by Jo Wallen, Senior Director at the National Campus for the U.S. Tennis Association.

Joanne Wallen, Orlando, FL

Sr. Director, National Campus, U.S. Tennis Association

A native of England, Joanne Wallen became a top junior player in England, after taking up tennis at the age of four. She came to the U.S. in 1988 on a six-year scholarship to the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. That year she also signed with sports marketing giant IMG, the youngest player ever to do so at the time. She played for 14 years on the International Tennis Federation and Women’s Tennis Association tours, winning 15 events and achieving a world #252 ranking in singles and #179 ranking in doubles.

In 2005 she joined the Lexington Tennis Club in Kentucky as Director of Junior Development and was promoted to General Manager in 2009. Throughout her career, Wallen has devoted countless hours to growing the sport of tennis by developing her own skills and teaching those around her. Wallen’s involvement in tennis has been multifaceted, and includes serving on the Board of Directors of USTA Kentucky, and chairing its Junior Competition Committee. She also served on the USTA Southern Junior Competition Committee. In addition, Wallen has coached multiple USTA Southern junior teams. Meanwhile, she has become a USTA Certified High-Performance Specialist, working with top juniors to prepare them for competition, and a tester for the U.S. Tennis Professional Association (USPTA), certifying tennis instructors in Kentucky and surrounding states. In 2012, she was named “Newcomer of the Year” by the Professional Tennis Registry.

In 2016 Joanne left Lexington to work for the USTA as Director of Adult Individual Play at the National Campus in Orlando. With this position, she oversaw all Adult tournaments, Wheelchair Tennis, which included being named Tournament Director of the US Open Wheelchair Championships. Within her role of Wheelchair Tennis, Joanne also oversaw any Military outreach. In 2018 her role changed to Director of Adult Competition, which included Adult League and Tennis On Campus.

On February 1st, 2021 Joanne was named Sr. Director of USTA National Campus.

Community advocate using football to promote inclusion in New Zealand

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