A school holiday version of a successful pilot program developed by NSWRL’s Changing Rooms and Police Youth Command that has led to a dramatic drop in suspensions and negative behaviour will be run at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence in Sydney Olympic Park this week.
The program, which will start today (Tuesday 20 January) and will be attended by up to 20 at risk youths over the next two weeks, addresses topics including mental and physical fitness, goal setting and improving motivation and resilience.
It follows a successful pilot program that was started in October last year and was staged over five weeks at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence in Sydney Olympic Park.
The participants who took part last year later showed improvement in their behaviour at their high school with suspensions dropping from eight to zero, and incidents of negative behaviour falling by 48 per cent.
“Rugby League has an important role to play in helping to deliver messages to the community,” NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden said.
“The initial results from the NSWRL’s Changing Rooms program for at risk youths in helping to promote positive behaviours is proof of this and I look forward to further success in 2026.”
The program has been made possible by licensed clubs who contributed $30,000 to ensure it could go ahead. The clubs involved include Mounties Group, Wenty Leagues Club, Cabravale Club Resort, Smithfield RSL, Parramatta Leagues Club and St Johns Park Bowling Club.
Participants will be guided by collaborators including NSWRL Community and Welfare Officer, head of the NSWRL’s Changing Rooms and triple Rugby League premiership winner Paul Langmack, Youth Regiment Founder and former Australian Army Infantry Paratrooper Matthew French, One Love Mentoring’s Joseph Tau, former UFC veteran and University of New England lecturer in Exercise and Sports Science Brad Morris and counsellor Samantha Gordon.
Participants take part in a variety of activities including strength training, mentoring sessions, police talks on organised crime recruitment and cyber safety, a youth regiment session, and meditation and controlled breathing. There are plans to hold further programs during school holiday periods in 2026.
The NSWRL’s Changing Rooms program was started in 2019 by True Blue Paul Langmack and has been delivered to more than 21,000 participants at Junior Rugby League clubs. It addresses issues including bullying, social media and mental fitness and has also been delivered to the Royal Australian Navy, First Nations groups, a NSW Parliamentary committee, and a variety of other sporting codes.
