We are in the business of trying to develop our future Queensland Maroons.
In Mackay our RISE motto for our kids is literally that they are “rising to be a Maroon”.
The idea of all this, this effort to identify talent and help our young athletes flourish, is an integral part of our RISE Rugby League Development program, which will come to an end for 2022 over the coming weeks.
I have helped to spearhead this program and its finale for our Northern team and it’s fair to say the excitement is building for our kids across the region.
The RISE program will be wrapped up this year for the Northern teams with a carnival at Townsville’s Jack Manski Oval, starting Monday, September 19.
All our RISE teams from across North Queensland will land in Townsville on Monday for a four day extravaganza involving 32 teams, with our under 13s and 15s boys competing on Monday and Tuesday, while our under 14s boys and our under 14s and 16s girls will take to the field on Wednesday and Thursday.
This carnival is an opportunity for our players to put themselves on display. The whole idea of the carnival is that with all the stuff these kids have learnt, it’s now their chance to put it all together and show everyone what they’re capable of.
At the end of the day, this program is a pathway and we are definitely endeavouring to develop our future Queenslanders.
There is a lot of things they’ve had to do to be able to participate in this carnival.
These kids have been through five sessions of training and development. They’ve had to show a high attendance rate, complete online modules, complete a referee’s course and, for some, complete a LeagueSafe course as well.
They’ve built relationships with new coaches and teammates.
Now they’re coming into the carnival and representative environment. Some of these kids are going to travel all the way from Mt Isa to be in Townsville – that’s 10 to 11 hours on the road just to get here.
But there is so much excitement around it.
Every child should get to play six games in two days and will have the chance to put their newly-developed skills to the test, to try new positions and combinations, and to be coached by different mentors.
And there’s other opportunities we’re exposing them to as well.
For us, this is a massive celebration basically. It’s not just about footy.
As part of the North’s carnival experience, we will have Queensland Rugby League Central wellbeing operations manager Ryan Charles come up to do a wellbeing session with the kids.
Former North Queensland Cowboy Ray Thompson will also come in to do a resilience talk with the players, while Cowboys pathways development officer Steve Sheppard and North Queensland Gold Stars playmaker Tahlulah Tillett will also come to speak to the boys and girls respectively.
We will also have a “thank you” gathering for staff on the Tuesday night and, of course, there’s our “RISE Surprise” where we will have an evening at the Cowboys headquarters, having a tour of their facilities. What is unsurprising is how excited all the kids are about this.
It’s going to be a huge week for everyone involved.
Because not only are we in the business of trying to develop future players, but we’re also in the business of trying to develop better people.
It’s an important week for many reasons, including that.
We want rugby league to help in growing our younger people.
