Wests Tigers were pleased to have participants in the NRL School to Work program heavily involved in last Sunday’s game against the Bulldogs.
To celebrate Indigenous Round the participants in the NRL School to Work program were actively involved in a number of activities with the Wests Tigers to promote Indigenous engagement and awareness.
Participants worked with the Koomurri cultural performers to complete a community art piece with supporters as they came into ANZ stadium.
The students then shared their experience of working with the NRL School to Work Program to a number of Wests Tigers corporate partners and representatives from the department of the Prime Minister in Cabinet and government supporters. Two students who took part in the 2016 Indigenous All Stars youth summit were selected to toss the coin before the start of the game and then were interviewed on the sidelines of ANZ Stadium before a montage of film sharing their experience and growth from attending the youth summit was played across the big screens.
As the Wests Tigers players took the field, the players kicked out to the crowd footballs that had been hand painted by the students of the program. At the conclusion of the game the students joined the team down in the sheds and the remaining footballs that had been painted by the School to work participants were presented to the players, Head Coach Jason Taylor and CEO Justin Pascoe. The football that was presented to Pascoe will be displayed in the Wests Tigers office, much to the delight of the talented young artist Courtney Baxter who spent five hours working on the piece.
The experiences, stories and memories of the students are certainly ones that will be shared for a long time and was a true celebration of Indigenous engagement and support for Rugby League for Indigenous Round 2016.
