As a pillar of the club’s core values, the Cairns Taipans seek to service the communities which support it by encouraging healthy and active lifestyles under a range of programs throughout the year. In 2013, the club launched an ambitious plan to build on its 800-hour annual commitment to the community with the formation of the Taipans Indigenous Program (TIP) - and for the past decade has been the only existing Indigenous arm of the NBL.

Thanks to the generous support from naming rights sponsor, Sea Swift and platinum partner, Skytrans – the program is a vehicle to expand on the club’s renowned community engagement into Cape York and beyond, delivering to some of the most remote locations of Australia. TIP primarily serves to spread healthy living messages and aims to increase participation levels throughout Indigenous youth while promoting education and sports.

At the helm of TIP is former Cairns Taipans point guard Kerry Williams, whose journey from local club ranks into junior representative basketball and the top level of professional sports in Australia makes him an inspirational role model to the Indigenous and Torres Strait youth throughout the region, as well as a respected Aboriginal leader amongst his clan.

Notable, in August 2014 Williams was invited to speak at the inaugural National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Ochre Day in Canberra, a forum designed to engage Indigenous role models to shed light on Indigenous men’s health issues.