I’m in Alice Springs with ‘Grimesy’ and Matty Arnot as part of the Outback Tigers program that Richmond and Dick Smith have teamed up to deliver to schools.
We’ll be visiting lots of schools in Alice Springs and some in remote communities, to encourage kids to attend school and help them understand the importance of education.
I’ve been to Alice Springs before; we played against Port Adelaide here last year. I’m enjoying the warm, 30-degree weather despite my injury (broken toe).
We arrived here Monday morning and went to Centralian High School to chat to some senior school students. They love footy and other sports as well, so it was good to hang out with them in their recreation room, playing table tennis and football.
After that, we went down the road to Centralian Middle School, where we were given a tour by some of the students, who participated in a REAL Camp at the Korin Gamadji Institute (KGI), which is a centre for Indigenous youth located in the ME Bank Centre at the Club.
Each player was taken on a guided school tour by the kids, who showed us all the different facilities at their school.
It was really good to see the students had confidence to show us around. Hopefully the leadership camp they did at the KGI helped to boost their confidence.
We also did a couple of school runs and travelled on the bus with students from Gillen Primary School, to take them home at the end of the day.
The kids were really excited and friendly and it was nice to see them smiling, happy and full of energy.
Today Grimesy, Arnot and I are heading to Hermannsburg Community School and Areyonga Community School, around 200km west of Alice Springs.
I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like outside of Alice and meeting the students.
