Success in badminton runs through Rudy Jean Rigg's family.
Rudy — who is transgender, non-binary and uses the pronouns they/he — was so good they even reached state level.
Rudy's grandmother, Jean Tyrrel, is believed to have started the first badminton school in Australia.
"It sort of started, as most things do, kind of unofficially," they said.
Their mother, Michelle Rigg, was a triple junior national champion player and later a junior national coach.
And their sister? A junior national doubles champion.
While Melbourne-based Rudy used to play the sport, they don't anymore.
"No, I haven't really played but I would love to get back to playing," they said.
The reason why is being explored in Rudy's TikTok documentary series, Transathletica, which looks at the unique barriers transgender and gender-diverse people face trying to participate in sport.
"I felt if I affirmed my gender in any obvious way that I would no longer have a place in the sport," Rudy says in one of the episodes.
The series — funded by TikTok and Screen Australia — goes through Rudy's challenges trying to enter the sport and includes insights from transgender athletes as well as researchers and an endocrinologist.
"I help people get a clearer and more holistic understanding of what it means to be trans in sport and what a variety of lived experiences looks like and feels like," Rudy said.
Their main desire is to play badminton competitively, rather than just in community sport.
Transathletica is one of the latest projects from the content creator and LGBTQIA+ activist, who rose to prominence through their TikTok channel, Rainbow History Class.
Co-created by Rudy and Hannah McElhinney in 2021, Rainbow History Class takes viewers through queer and transgender history they "didn't get in school", ranging from the history of Queercore punks in the 1980s to how the rainbow flag became a symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community.
"We're both really big history nerds," Rudy said, adding that their favourite part of history is around the pre-colonial ideas of gender.
"What I find really interesting — and awful at the same time — is how colonisation and the destruction of Indigenous cultures has played a part in the gender binary problem that we have today."
This serving of queer history in TikTok format earned Rudy acclaim, both nationally and internationally.
Together with Hannah McElhinney and producer Amina Soubjaki, they were named Best Creator on TikTok at the Australian Influencer Marketing Awards in 2021 for Rainbow History Class.
More recently, Rudy was listed as one of the top 10 online creators in the 2022 British LGBT Awards.
"I was so shocked, I literally burst into tears," Rudy said. "It was very, very, I don't know, unexpected."
Adding to the achievements, Rudy was recently named as one of the 45 Rainbow Champions for Sydney WorldPride 2023, a title given to those who have made a significant contribution to the LGBTQIA+ community.
The global pride event will take place during the 45th anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (the reason why 45 people were chosen).
All the Rainbow Champions from around Australia will be revealed throughout the year, with Rudy one of the first three people named, alongside First Nations journalist Narelda Jacobs and LGBTQIA+ activist Peter de Waal.
"It is just going to be an incredible occasion for all of Australia, not just Sydney," Jacobs said.
Mr de Waal was one of the 78ers, a group that took part in the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade back in 1978.
"Reflecting on that first Mardi Gras, the overall thing is it was a lonely event in a way because there was no community, you know, standing along the street saying, 'Yeah, it's OK to be gay'," he said.
"Now we have, you know, even families come with children."
As Sydney gears up to make history as the first city in the southern hemisphere to host WorldPride, Rudy is looking forward to connecting to the community.
"I'm going in with wide eyes and my arms open, and I just really want to get into anything and everything that it has to offer."
