YOUNG Keilor Downs student and budding rugby league star Henry Sang-Yum has been singled-out as one of the state’s brightest sporting lights, rubbing shoulders with some of Victoria’s biggest names at an awards ceremony late last month.
Twelve-year-old Henry, who started at Keilor Downs Secondary College this year, was one of the 39 state school students to receive a Victorian Sports Award after putting in a stellar performance for the state’s Under 12 Victorian Rugby League Team in 2006.
In a city obsessed with AFL, Henry was the only Victorian student to receive an award for rugby league.
“It’s just in my family,” Henry, whose parents are from Samoa, said last week.
Henry, who is a forward, started his rugby career at the age of only 10. He now plays in the under 14s competition for local western suburbs club the Altona Roosters on weekends.
To make the state squad the Melbourne Storm supporter had to undertake a rigorous selection process, which involved fitness tests and tryouts ensuring only the best were chosen.
A highlight of his state team career was playing in front of a crowd of thousands during a couple of warm-up matches at Olympic Park, where his team opened for the Melbourne Storm – the team he hopes to play for somewhere down the track.
Was he nervous about playing in front of so many diehard Storm fans?
“Nah, not really because you’re just focussing on the game,” Henry said.
“I am very proud, knowing that he hasn’t played for long but he’s achieved so much,” Henry’s mother Henrietta said last week.
But it’s not just rugby, last year Henry also played Australian Rules football and basketball for his old primary school, Deer Park North Primary.
“He loves sport,” his mother said. “He’s a very active kid. He doesn’t like sitting around watching TV. He plays a lot of sport, he represents the school in footy, basketball, in all sorts of sports at school. He gets involved.”
Former North Melbourne Kangaroos AFL player Jason McCartney was MC at last month’s award ceremony, while Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat and Commonwealth Games medallist Lauren Hewitt were among some of the big names handing out the awards on the night.
The awards are in their 13th year. The Victorian Government said the awards were a chance to encourage a healthy lifestyle among the state’s school children.
But for kids like Henry, encouragement is the last thing they need.
