Plenty going on behind scenes

1:40pm Thursday 4th September 2008

Although the regular season for our first team is drawing to a close, with the engage Super League elimination play-offs looming it has, and continues to be, all systems go for our community development department.

Firstly we must comment on the success of our summer extravaganza, which included six weeks of fun and physical activity at various locations throughout the city.

With activity weeks focusing on our traditional area of rugby league, while also exploring some non-traditional areas such as basketball, cricket, football and even martial arts and kick-boxing, this summer was just as much fun for the staff as our participants, who ranged between eight and 16 years – despite the weather! With the support of members of our first-team training squad, this summer’s programme was by far the most successful of recent years and we are excited about the prospects this holds for the future.

The mix of children attending showed great skill, whether this be in their physical performance, teamwork, communication or effort. All were an absolute pleasure to work with, so thanks a lot guys for making our summer and we hope to see you all again soon.

This summer also saw Grattan Stadium full to the rafters again, this time with around 350 children, young people, their carers and families attending the Communicate ’08 event. This free activity day – held for the third year in succession and run on behalf of Barnardo’s ‘Seen and Heard’ division of Bradford and in conjunction with the Linktelecom-sponsored Bulls community development department – catered for a wide range of tastes for the young and the young at heart. Activities included face painting, mask making and a puppet show, DJ workshops, crazy bikes and a climbing wall. One of the star attractions of the day had to have been the ‘Newts’, an environmental conservation organisation who brought an array of creatures along for all to meet while spreading the word on this important subject.

The first-team squad members who lent their support to this event, Semi Tadulala and Tame Tupou, thoroughly enjoyed meeting some of the special guests on show, with Tame and a 19-year-old barn owl getting on famously and a meerkat posing for a photograph with Semi!

Speaking of Semi, he was rewarded for some outstanding work in the community this year with the Community Foundation Award at this year’s player of the year presentations.

Semi has been tremendous in this area since his arrival and has regularly volunteered to help out, even when it has not been his turn. He is a tremendous ambassador for both the club and rugby league in general. Whether it is coaching children, visiting schools or visiting terminally ill patients in hospital, Semi will always put his hand up and put himself out for the good of others.