Pilbara kids meet sport heroes
Young sport fans in Karratha and Roebourne were spoiled for choice earlier this month when some of Australia’s best known footballers, bastketballers and boxers paid them a visit.
Ex-Fremantle Docker Matthew Pavlich, ex-Adelaide Crows AFLW player Abbey Holmes, boxing superstar Danny Green and basketball legend Corey “Homicide’ Williams were in the area for a trip organised by the Mawarnkarra Health Service.
It was all part of the company’s Tackling Indigenous Smoking program which helps reduce smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Program team leader Sahneemah Moncrieff said a lot of kids in Roebourne were picking up bad habits.
“We’re trying to get in there, intervene and prevent them smoking before they get hooked,” she said.
“The whole point of the event is for these stars to share their successful journeys and how they exercise and don’t smoke, plus they elaborate on the dangers of smoking.”
After spending most of their time in Roebourne, the sporting giants stopped in at the Karratha Kats Junior Football Club’s U11 training to have a kick with the kids.
Pavlich, who played 353 games with Fremantle before retiring in 2016, said they were spreading the message of living a healthy, active life.
“We used football, basketball and boxing as vehicles to talk about eating well, making smart choices and having aspirations and dreams,” he said. “I learned in my football career to establish habits and if you establish good habits as a young person, then you’ll tend to make good choices as you get older.”
The four stars are the third lot of sporting legends brought to Roebourne as part of the TIS program.
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