St George Illawarra back-rower Joel Thompson ditches post-season party to mentor troubled teens

ST GEORGE Illawarra back-rower Joel Thompson ditched the usual post-season hijinks in Bali or Las Vegas to do something far more rewarding.

PHUKET, Bali and the bright lights of Las Vegas have been traditional hot spots for the partying rugby league player.

But St George Illawarra back-rower Joel Thompson ditched the usual post-season celebrations and instead made his way to far North Queensland to work with troubled youths. Thompson has also used his off-season to mentor teens at the Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre in Airds.

Joel Thompson went bush to give something back.

“I wanted to take a group of youths to walk Kokoda but that fell through, Thompson said.

“Instead I offered to go up to far North Queensland and mentor 12 boys. It was one of the proudest bits of work I’ve done to get kids who have been through some difficult times to open up and share their feelings and their story.”

Thompson spent five days with them. The group fished and did some cattle work.

Thompson is preparing to step into full-time welfare work

“It was very emotional,” Thompson said. “It was very rewarding. They are kids who are doing well at their schools in different programs. We wanted to give them this extra encouragement and education to help them to keep pushing and working hard.

“I’ve built a really strong bond with a lot of the boys. I’ll be keeping in contact and monitoring them and making sure they chase their dreams.

“I was terrible (with the cattle). I was pretty scared. There were some stockmen who came from remote communities and they weighed about 60 kilos. They were jumping on these Brahman bulls, I was in shock.

“It was a real eye-opener for some of the city boys.”

Everybody had something new to confront.

Thompson is running rugby league related training sessions for those in the justice centre at least once a week. The 29-year-old — who will transition to full-time welfare work once his career ends — said the ongoing work was part of his healing after his own troubled youth.

“I was going through a tough time and I spoke to someone who encouraged me to give back as part of a healing process,” Thompson said. “It’s important to share my story with others because it helps me as well.

“I want them to be a story like mine where it doesn’t matter where you come from you can chase your dreams and achieve them through handwork.”