History of DS+
2017
DS+ was founded in 2017 by Nic Radoll as a sole trader business in Canberra. They were playing both roller derby and quadball for a number of years, when they copped 3 head injuries within 4 months, resulting from long-term concussion issues. They decided their sporting career was done, but they still wanted to be part of the action. They decided to become a sports trainer (sports first aider) with Sports Medicine Australia, starting Deadly Sports First Aid to be a contractor.
2018 - 2020
After moving to Melbourne in late-2017, Nic continued to work with Sports Medicine Australia and joined Phoenix Sports First Aid as a contractor. They continued to deliver first aid services to a number of sports including AFL, soccer, rugby union, quadball, cycling, brazillian jiu jitsu, and many others. They also started teaching first aid courses through both companies, building their skills and experience. They became the sole provider of first aid for Quadball Victoria in 2018 and they rebranded at Deadly Sports Plus.
2021 - 2022
In 2021, the Department of Health Victoria introduced First Aid Service licences to regulate the commercial event first aid service industry. Deadly Sports Plus became one of the first Intermediate Licence holders and began getting more requests for event first aid services. After registering with Kinaway Chamber of Commerce Victoria, DS+ began to deliver first aid training to businesses and government entities.
2023
2023 was a year of massive growth, with 22 first aid events and expanding the team from 2 to 6. DS+ were given the opportunity to provide first aid across the roller derby community and large events such as The Long Walk to Canberra 2023. DS+ also provided first aid training to a larger number of businesses and was part of the SWIM Jobs Victoria First Nation project.
2024 - Now
In 2024, DS+ became a non-profit Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation and a social enterprise. Nic connected with members of the Victorian and Canberran Aboriginal community who they have worked with in the past and admired greatly to change DS+ to a community organisation. They noticed over the 7 years of DS+, there wasn’t any open recruitment and inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, LGBTIQA+SB, disabled, or disadvantaged people. Working with the membership, DS+ registered with ORIC as an Aboriginal Corporation (ICN 10169) and is focused on becoming a charity.
DS+ has been focusing on providing education and employment in the first aid industry for people who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, LGBTIQA+SB, disabled, and/or disadvantaged people. DS+ uses the trade of event first aid services and first aid training to bring funds in to support our objectives.
Our Logo
2018-2023
The logo was designed in 2018 by Anaiwan Artist, Samuel Radoll. He currently lives and accepted in the Ngunnawal and Ngambri community of ACT. He has a Certificate III in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Art from the Canberra Institute of Technology.
The logo was inspired to use the internationally recognisable first aid cross, combined with the colours of both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag. We wanted to be easily recognisable as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-run first aid provider. We hope the logo helps our staff and clients to feel pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
2024
In 2024, we worked with Taungurang designer and photographer Maddi Moser from Chlo and Co Creatives to update the logo to help with consistent branding and alternate logos. This included aligning colours to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, new font, and a new rectangle shape.
Our branding artwork
The branding artwork we use was designed by proud queer, Wiradjuri & Gundungurra yinaa (woman), Sarah Levett! She’s been creating art my whole life and come from a long line of creatives. She specialises in creating digital and mural artworks. She loves creating contemporary Indigenous artworks that share stories about her life, travels, culture and mob.