2013 All Stars Youth Summit

All Stars team captains Johnathan Thurston and Benji Marshall and their team-mates will teach life-skills to 64 Aboriginal, Torres Strait Island and Maori students from Australia and New Zealand when they gather in Brisbane next month for the 2013 All Stars Youth Summit.

The annual Youth Summit is part of the 2013 Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars Week and will see students arrive in Brisbane on Tuesday, February 5, for mentoring and life skills workshops with the both the Indigenous All Stars and NRL All Stars team members.

Activities will include physical challenges, career-advice training and job interview sessions, as well as attending the All Stars Community Festival and DEEWR Learn Earn Legend! Jobs Expo (February 8). They will also play a role in the pre-match entertainment at Suncorp Stadium before the Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars game (February 9).

Students from Melbourne and New Zealand will take part in the Summit for the first time, with others travelling from areas as remote as Weipa in the Gulf of Carpentaria and Mount Isa in north-west Queensland.

The teenagers have been selected by the NRL Club Community Managers from over 10,000 students who are currently participating in NRL Club Community Programs.

“This year’s group consist of students from extremely diverse walks of life,” said NRL General Manager for Community, Culture and Diversity, Ms Trish Crews.

“For the first time we have been able to invite participants from every club and we extend a special welcome to our attendees from across the Tasman.

“We have students who have grown up in highly populated suburbs including Punchbowl (NSW), Caboolture (QLD) and Reservoir (VIC),  spending the week with students from areas as remote as Charter Towers and towns and communities with populations of no more than 8000 people.

“There is a great opportunity for the group to learn from our Indigenous All Stars who have only just completed their own Indigenous Players Camp on the weekend prior as well as the NRL All Stars, coaches, mentors and their own peers.”