The Cronulla Sharks have had a massive start for their 2015 pre-season, both and off the field. The players had no time to waste and kept very busy throughout the community in the first month of the 2015 season campaign.
Junior League;
• Michael Ennis and Michael Gordon attended the De La Salle JRLFC presentation day. Both players presented medals and awards to all junior teams.
School Visits;
• Mitch Brown, Blake Ayshford and Nu Brown were special guests at the Endeavour Sports High School Sports Awards Presentation Night. The players spoke about their time as ESHS students and presented individual awards to key students.
• Nu Brown and Sami Sauiluma attended the annual school fete St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School at Gymea, where they engaged in the ‘pass-the-ball’ activity with plenty of kids and even gave the ‘dunker’ machine a try in helping to raise much needed funds for the school.
• Ben Barba, Andrew and David Fifita and Nu Brown went to Endeavour Sports High School and spoke to over 100 students. The students in attendance were made up from the football and Indigenous and Pacific Islander student programs. The players spoke about their history, goal setting, overcoming life challenges, the importance of education and talked all things football. The students then had the opportunity to engage with the players for questions, autographs and photos
• Valentine Holmes, Pat Politoni and Nu Brown supported the Gymea Bay PS ‘Lily Festival’. The players handed out posters and engaged with the kids on rides, had their photo taken and signed autographs.
Community Events;
• Nu Brown, Valentine Holmes, Dallas Wells, Blake Ayshford and Junior Rociqa made a special appearance at the Cronulla Sharks stall at the Cook Community Classic at South Cronulla beach. The players supervised the ‘pass the ball’ and interacted with the many kids in attendance at the annual community event.
• Chris Heighington attended an open forum information session at The Tradies Gymea to raise awareness for White Ribbon – the anti-violence against women campaign. Chris was a guest speaker at the afternoon tea which was hosted by local area Labour Party representative Mary-Anne Steward, with his presence extremely well received by those who attended the function.
• The full NRL squad hit the streets after a training session on a Saturday morning at three major locations in the Sutherland Shire including; Cronulla Mall, Sutherland and Gymea. The players handed out 2015 membership information flyers and took the time to stop for photos with fans young and old.
• Mitch Brown and Jacob Gagan attended the inaugural Walk 4 Brain Cancer Event at Don Lucas Reserve, Cronulla. The players had the opportunity to meet and present Professor Charlie Teo with a Sharks hat, before assisting with the pre-walk warm up. Before the race the pair also had the opportunity to meet and thank participants for their support. Ally from the Sharks Mermaids was also present at the event.
Sponsors Promotions;
• Caltex Star mart, Lilli Pilli hosted their annual ‘Drive for a Wish’ fundraiser where Jeff Robson and Matt Prior assisted in raising much needed funds for the Make a Wish Foundation. The players collected donations and mingled with customers.
So far the Cronulla Sharks have achieved in total 136 community hours across 63 appearances.
