Toowoomba Mountaineers player inspires the Next Generation at NAIDOC Community Sports day
Growing up there wasn’t a community of First Nations basketball players for Toowoomba Mountaineers player Noah Silcox-Smith to be a part of, but for this year’s NAIDOC week he might have created one.
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When he started playing basketball at about eight years old Toowoomba Mountaineers player Noah Silcox-Smith was one of the only Indigenous boys in his community to play the sport, but as he has seen the sport grow over the years he has become someone First Nations kids can look up to.
Hundreds of kids and families came out to the NAIDOC Community Sport Expo Day at the Jack Martin Centre on Thursday, and Silcox-Smith volunteered to teach the kids how to play basketball.
Having played basketball at a high level and even playing in Kobe Bryant’s basketball academy in America he said it felt great to be able to give back to the First Nations community and the Next Generation.
“When I was growing up I was always the only Indigenous kid (playing basketball) and then I brought some friends in and we grew up playing together,” he said.
“It’s definitely become a lot bigger and I love to see it.
“I’m here just giving back to the community and teaching basketball because it’s what I love.
“It’s good to get Indigenous kids involved in different sports, apart from rugby league.”
Noah’s mum Robyn Silcox, who helped organise the event said she loved seeing the young generation coming together.
“It makes me really proud to see Noah, because he started balling at a very young age, at about eight or nine,” she said.
“So for him to be able to give back to the community because so many kids look up to him.
“It is great seeing them all come together and working together as teams in all the different sports and seeing everybody happy and smiling.”
Ms Silcox said its great to see kids staying active not just for their physical health but their mental health and sense of community.
“It all goes back to community, working together, everybody coming together and building a better future for all our young people,” she said.
Toowoomba NAIDOC committee member Janet Suey said the Sports Day was introduced for the first time for this year’s NAIDOC theme, The Next Generation.
“Sport is a very big thing for us, and we just thought we’d give the kids an opportunity to come and try different sports that they may not have tried before,” she said.
“We’ve got Noah, a very good basketball player, a local boy who is giving back to this community.
“The barrier for, not just Aboriginal kids, but all kids for getting into sport is the cost.”
Originally published as Toowoomba Mountaineers player inspires the Next Generation at NAIDOC Community Sports day
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