Last week, 10 new recruits to the club attended the Bulldogs NYC Orientation Week.
The young pups were in attendance on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and were given the opportunity to not only meet the staff through their presentations, but also undertake some important education sessions needed to excel in life on and off the field.
Monday saw the 10 new faces get through some formalities like the Bulldogs and NRL Code of Conduct, rules and responsibilities of a player and an introduction to injury prevention and rehabilitation.
These sessions benefited the new members as for some, this is the first time they have had the opportunity to be a part of a professional sporting organisation.
The day also saw recently retired player Sam Perrett come in and give a brief talk about himself, his values, his career and the way he managed both footy and family life.
Tuesday’s session was more educational based and the boys looked at the importance of time management, nutrition for an elite athlete and an introduction to positive psychology ideals.
The players were in good hands with the Club Career Coach Renee Robson, Club Dietician Mark Booth and Sports Psychologist Robert Brown delivering the workshops.
Wednesday was the final day for the orientation and the boys were put through some really valuable sessions as well as testing their literacy and numeracy levels.
The players had a personal finance talk hosted by Roy Prasad which looked at budgeting, loans, superannuation and investing.
Following this was a short presentation on apprenticeships by former NRL player Heath L’estrange.
Overall the 3 days were really beneficial for the boys.
They got to meet some of their new team mates as well as participating in some really interactive educational sessions.
This will be followed up with more sessions throughout the year as the players undertake a Certificate III in Sport, covering topics such as First Aid, media and presentation skills, sponsorship and business plans and social etiquette.
The club would like to wish all of our players the best for the upcoming year, both on and off the field.
