Aspiring Kangaroos link up with rugby league stars

Young Orange rugby league players are set for the experience of a lifetime next week with Telstra and the Australian Rugby League (ARL) today announcing that they will be running a Telstra Kids to Kangaroos Clinic at Wade Park, with the city and country players.

Along with the representative players, the Orange players will experience an additional highlight of being coached’ by league legend Matthew Johns. Mr Johns will give each local school a motivational half-time talk in a mocked up dressing room via a video call, and will also run a question and answer session with the kids.

The Telstra Kids to Kangaroos Clinic kicks off at 10.00a.m. Tuesday, 5 May 2009. Children taking part in the Clinic will be encouraged to learn more about rugby league and the importance of being physically active, whilst in a safe and fun environment.

The Clinic also provides city and country players the chance to give something back to the local community while encouraging young people to enjoy rugby league.

“Telstra is very proud to support initiatives like these which encourage young people to be physically active in their local community,” Telstra Country Wide’s General Manager for Western NSW, Chris Taylor, said today.

“It’s great to have Matthew Johns involved with the day by giving students a motivational half-time talk via the Telstra Next G” network" Mr Taylor said.

Last year, the Telstra Assistance Fund also contributed $250,000 to 240 rugby league clubs across the country.

The Telstra Assistance Fund is part of Telstra’s ongoing investment in local communities across Australia, which was last year valued at $38 million by the London Benchmarking Group.