When South Sydney PCYC closed down over a year ago, local teenagers didn’t just lose access to equipment. They lost their routine and sense of purpose.
David Castriani and his friends quickly decided to set up their own outdoor fitness bootcamp. Within a year, the project has grown into a community movement that welcomes up to 100 trainers each night – including, on occasion, NRL players Josh Addo-Carr and Izack Tago.
Castriani knew they needed something to replace the PCYC, where they had spent so much of their lives. They started from scratch in the middle of Waterloo estate, naming the club 17x16cdp – an amalgam of the postcodes of Waterloo (2017) and Redfern (2016) and the initials of “chest dip and pull”, the exercises that form the bedrock of the training sessions.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, starting at 5.30pm sharp, music pulsates from the loudspeakers as men, women, and children arrive to train. Most are from Redfern and Waterloo, but some travel from as far as Penrith. The temporary street lights flicker on and off, but nobody seems to mind.
“This is just us as a younger generation just turning up for each other,” Castriani says. “We’re making a statement, by not trying to be a statistic going into jail.
“We want to make a change, especially in this community, where it’s poor compared to other places in Sydney.
“It might be [just] a few hours a week, but in that time it’s all about getting people to make smarter choices and strive to be better.”
On Monday night, three players from the NSW Waratahs Super Rugby side turn up to train with the group. Clem Halaholo, Triston Reilly and Siosifa Amone take part in each exercise despite having already completed a full day of professional footy training.
A large proportion of the young men and women here are indigenous, prompting Reilly to reflect on his own childhood as a Dunghutti man in Kempsey, northern NSW.
“There are a lot of people back home in Kempsey that are definitely good enough to play rugby at the highest level, but it was just about having that opportunity,” Reilly said.
“I came from the bush, but being able to come down here to this community, I guess I can still relate to these young fellas in some way. They’ve created a brotherhood where anyone can come down here and train and have a real crack.
“There’s a six-year-old here tonight doing chin-ups. In 10 years, he’s going to be 16 playing in the NRL, hopefully for South Sydney Rabbitohs, or playing rugby for the Tahs. Anything is possible for them.”
On Wednesday night, it is Vinny’s turn to lead training. He has spent a long day working in the sun as a roofer in Pymble, finishing at 4.30pm before driving across the city to start the session with a huddle and a prayer.
Vinny first heard about the bootcamp on social media and now volunteers his time every week. He enjoys training the group hard, but also feels a responsibility to be there to stop violence that can erupt in the area. As a young man, he needed positive male role models, and now he feels a responsibility to be one to this group.
“Last week, there was a bit of drama where people who didn’t get along with this group came and disrupted them,” Vinny said.
“So if I don’t turn up, then I feel guilty, if I turned up that time, then maybe they, they wouldn’t have been out in the streets.
“So for me, when I turn up, I don’t try and focus too much on what else goes on outside. As much as I’d love to, I’m not in control of it.
“When you’re stuck during a set and you see your brother struggling, mate, you can’t give up on them, you just can’t.”
While the youths attending the training sessions often come from difficult backgrounds, Vinny is determined that for at least one hour a week he can provide a positive environment that will make a lasting impression.
“It could drug abuse, domestic violence, robberies, physical altercations, gang relations, this is every day for them here,” Vinny said.
“When we’re training here, you’ll see some people who are victims of that just walk by. They have their head down, but we just worry about ourselves. We stay locked in.”
Suwana Combo is one of the local mothers or “aunties” who has become a permanent fixture within the group. Combo is on the sidelines providing water, fruit and encouragement to the group most nights, while welcoming one and all – whether it’s a young boy who has driven all the way from Penrith to train or an NRL premiership winner keeping a low profile.
“For us as the mums and the aunties, it’s hope, it’s change, it’s positive,” Combo says. “It’s a way forward to break cycles of engaging in risky behaviours, break cycles around poverty, just those positive stages of change.
“This is something that’s never been done in our community. It was youth-led. The boys are the ones who created this.
“We’ve had Josh Addo-Carr come here, he’s a local boy, he comes whenever his schedule allows it.
“The other one I remember who was great, this one kid, he was a Penrith Panthers player. I had no idea who he was. He pulled up here in the truck and started training, no fuss. That was Izack Tago. I loved that about him; he didn’t have his camera out. He wasn’t getting clout off the boys. He just wanted to be a part of it.”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
