with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin

On a hot Wednesday afternoon at the best rugby league field I have seen in quite a while , I came down to see Minchinbury Jets at Federation Forest , their new home ground , and speak to their Try Time coordinator Dell Froio .

Dell wears many hats , welfare and wellbeing officer , development coordinator and club on and off field uniform coordinator which keep her busy .

The Try Time program won the 2022 Disability Program Award for Blacktown City Council . Headspace have also partnered with Minchinbury Jets for the third year in a row as mental health is important in the community .

The place was buzzing . There were kids everywhere and parents everywhere supporting their kids . Dell was in there doing a lot of organising and planning

Try Time players on the field . with the trainers for the kids in the Try Time program . There were 13 players that were down at the training for Try Time on Wednesday afternoon and there were six trainers helping the players go through their paces - the players loved it .

Minchinbury Jets are big on diversity and inclusion , and they have a large number of cultures that they are very proud of . Indigenous artwork is demonstrated on their training kits for 2023 . The club had great success in 2022 winning the Penrith 1 ^st Division A Grade competition against Emu Plains . It is a high note for the club , who have done very well to put 36 teams on the park for this year , with sides in every girl ’ s age group including the under 17s girls for the first time in quite a while .

I met all the kids during the Try Time program and they were excited to show me their skills and what they could do . Mum Jessica has two boys in the program who are diagnosed with level two autism and severe anxiety . She told me the program has given her sons so much confidence and she hopes that they will one day move up and play full contact rugby league .

Katie Nuth-Robertson is one of the proud sponsors of the Try Time program with her company Outwest Care who are a disability support provider for people on the NDIS . They provide one on one support , home care , respite care and

Minchinbury Jets Try Time Rugby League Squad .

carers to help your needs . They were thrilled to be involved to help give players with disabilities the opportunity to play rugby league and to reach their goals .

Chloe has played in the program for a few years now . She loves the opportunity to play football and make friends and meet other people with disabilities who love rugby league . She said to tell everyone to come down and give it a go . The games are once a month and they play against Brothers , St Pats and Quakers Hill in a gala day format at each other ’ s grounds .

Hayley is one of the trainers in the Try Time program and has been involved for two years . She played Tarsha Gale Cup for Penrith last season , and while volunteering at her mum ’ s school working with special needs children decided she wanted to give something back to the kids who need it most in the Try Time program .

Dell Froio saw this program about eight years ago at Wentworthville and brought it back to Minchinbury . Try Time is a program for NRL modified football which is two hand touch . It ’ s an all-inclusive program for anyone with a disability .

As Dell points out , football is home to some of the players at the club where football is like family – everyone is welcome here .

If you would like to be involved in sponsorship you can contact the club via minchinbuuryjetstrytime @ gmail . com or Minchinburyjetssponsorship @ gmail . com .

26 ISSUE 25 // APRIL 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT