Around 300 rugby-mad NSW youngsters of all ages received a surprise audience with the HSBC Waratahs on Monday, when the team swapped its regular Moore Park training venue for Riverview.
The youngsters, aged between seven and 13, were on the first of a two-day Camp Waratah rugby skills clinic at Saint Ignatius' College in Riverview when they received a visit from the entire HSBC Waratahs squad. As well as the chance to meet all of the players in person and collect their autographs, the youngsters got to watch a full training session and enjoyed a presentation from HSBC Waratahs and Qantas Wallabies’ prop Sekope Kepu.
The event was the first of six to take part across the state during the school holidays.
In the Central Coast on Monday, youngsters taking part in the camp in Erina were joined by injured hooker Damien Fitzpatrick, while the Newcastle camp held on Tuesday featured a personal visit from Kepu.
Yesterday, Dan Vickerman joined Gunnedah campers, you can watch video highlights of the day
here on NBN News.
Tomorrow, Pat McCutcheon will travel to Bathurst and Fitzpatrick will be in Coffs Harbour for the final two events of the 2012 program.
With all six camps in the 2012 Camp Waratahs program selling out, by Friday around 600 boys and girls aged seven to 13 will have benefitted from a comprehensive skills and drills program conducted by highly qualified NSW Rugby Union development staff. All campers also enjoy the chance to meet a member of the HSBC Waratahs squad and take home an HSBC Waratahs backpack, water bottle and squeeze ball.
Having finished training for the day, brothers Lopeti and Sitaleki Timani and winger Atieli Pakalani this afternoon headed to hospital to spend the afternoon hanging out with children in the Starlight Express Room at the Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Last Friday, HSBC Waratahs Tom Carter and Daniel Halangahu joined Tahman and a cast of thousands to celebrate NAIDOC Week at Redfern’s National Centre of Indigenous Excellence.
NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July and celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee,’ which was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week. Its acronym has since become the name of the week itself, which culminated in last Friday’s event involving a range of activities that attracted a crowd of 5,000 during the course of the day.
The events were part of the HSBC Waratahs’ Community Connection program, an initiative aimed at bringing players and supporters closer together through a host of school, charity and community events planned for NSW across the season.