He’s captained Australia. But how did he perform in the HSC?

There have been 201 stories about James Tedesco in The Sydney Morning Herald, and the Roosters captain probably never thought the 202nd would canvas his academic preparation for HSC exams more than a decade ago.

“I wasn’t the smartest at school, but I tried,” Tedesco says.

The final years of his schooling at St Gregory’s at Campbelltown were spent at football training on the oval, sitting in class and occasionally dreaming of a career in professional rugby league.

The Roosters fullback James Tedesco was inspired by a great teacher. Credit: James Brickwood

“Footy was number one for me … but I knew it wasn’t guaranteed so I had to put some time and effort into my study as well,” he said.

Sitting still for long periods of time didn’t come naturally to Tedesco, but simple things helped: he had a dedicated study desk at home and he would blank even a short space of time out to revise what he had studied in class. “I couldn’t concentrate for hours on end,” he said.

But he managed what he could and the effort paid off – in 2010 he graduated with an ATAR of 81 and his name is on the HSC honour roll after getting a top performance band in Personal Development, Health and Physical Education.

He credits his strong result in the subject to his teacher Mr Bingham. “He was a real athlete, he was very muscular and sporty and very encouraging of me and my sport,” he said.

HSC Study Guide 2024

The 2024 HSC Study Guide is launched on Monday, July 22 in association with the NSW Education Standards Authority.

It offers all the tips and tricks to help HSC students do their best in this year’s exams which start on October 15.

The scheduling of exams for some 76,000 students is an enormous task, with this year’s written exam period running over 19 days, involving 400,000 unique exam sessions across 788 exam centres.

HSC written exams start on October 15 with English paper 1 and finish with Geography on November 8.

Mr Bingham might have also had something to do with Tedesco’s decision to study teaching at Australian Catholic University as his professional career unfolded.

A teaching degree in his spare time, making the State of Origin team, captaining Australia – it might be easy to think life has been plain sailing for Tedesco, but as for many elite athletes, achievement rarely comes without setbacks.

“Disappointment has come up in so many different aspects of life – whether it was through footy or school, or home,” he said.

“There are always going to be setbacks, but don’t let that discourage you too much. It is all part of how you grow and become better. You go through setbacks, you learn from them – they’re not mistakes or errors.”

Roosters captain James Tedesco pushes through against the Bulldogs last month.Credit: Getty Images

“I guess, to translate that into study, it is all about working hard, that is always the main thing I have learnt growing up with an Italian background – working hard was always a big part of my family.”

On the field, season-ending injuries have plagued Tedesco. He has had a mindset coach since 2015, who has given him some skills to get him out of his head when he starts to worry and overthink.

“Whenever you get those thoughts, whether it is in work or life or footy, that takes you away from that moment and that’s never a good place,” he said.

He focuses on breathing to clear his mind of worries beyond his control and tries not to look at social media.

“It is hard. Everyone these days with social media, it makes you overthink a lot.”

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