RENEE Park admits she loves a challenge. And, she has certainly got one ahead of her as the new Central North Junior Rugby Union president.
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It’s a long way from “a very enthusiastic mum” but at the same time feels like a natural progression.
Rugby has long been a part of Park’s life.
“My husband has always been involved and my brothers played when they were younger,” she said.
She became more involved in an administrative capacity when her two sons, now 14 and 12, started playing, and has served on the Scone junior committee for a number of years, and helped found and coordinates the annual Cauliflower Cup.
The first woman to hold the Central North post, she said she had no hesitation putting her hand up.
“I was interested in getting involved in the committee,” Park said.
“There’s certainly a lot of changes there at the moment but I love a challenge.”
Without doubt the biggest is participation with numbers, particularly through the teenage age divisions, dropping off. Part of the problem is lack of opportunities, something she found with her own two sons.
“The kids want to play. They just haven’t had the opportunity to play,” she said.
She hopes the new North West Junior Rugby Regional Youth Bridging Competition being rolled out will be a step towards addressing that.
“My vision is to have a very good strong competition in every age group,” Park said.
“And also give our players every representative opportunity they can.”
There have been some “exciting developments” on that front for 2018 with a new initiative driven by NSW Country Juniors and NSW Juniors to provide another avenue for Country players to play at the nationals.
From the under-17 and under-18 Country Championships in May a Country opens team will be selected to play City and CHS.
From that two sides will be selected, and finally a NSW open club side to play in Division 2 at the Australian School Titles.
“This is the first time our Country players have had a pathway through to the Nationals outside of the schoolboy pathway,” Park said.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity.”
A woman on a mission first appeared on Northern Daily Leader
