This morning’s orientation group was so diverse with participants travelling from all over NSW including QLD just to be at training.

John Purcell from DoCS tends to speak at the DoCS (Now Community Services) Orientations.  As John introduces himself, he tends to poke fun at my sporting preferences, particularly choice of NRL team. John goes for the Bunnies (mind you; they have been the wooden spooners 3 times in the past 6 years). Whereas my team is the Sydney City Roosters who were only wooden spoons last year due to an unfortunate technical difficulty. As John discussed his love for sport including golf and ironing, the participants began cheering and yelling out their own teams they were so passionate about.

By this stage the topic of conversation was sport, participants were talking about their love for sport; boating, golfing, rugby union, rugby league, skiing, dancing, soccer and it goes on.

One story which caught my attention was from Lee Robinson, he works with homeless men. He had just come back from Milan after taking 2 homeless men with him to compete in the World Homeless Soccer Cup. These 2 men trained every Tuesday to make it for selection, no home, no family, no income, just the love of soccer. These men did not win the competition, however out of 40 nations competing, they won best and fairest. Lee had photos of the 2 men and the trip to Milan, including a photo with the FIFA World Cup Trophy (this trophy is under constant security and hardly ever accessible) such an amazing story, not only the first time on a plane but the start of a new life for these 2 men. These 2 gentlemen are now back in Sydney, unfortunately one is still homeless the other now in independent housing and just got his first job.

http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/players

It’s amazing how much sport can bring people together, more importantly how good it makes us feel. The vibe in the room by the end of the orientation was amazing, everyone felt good and more-so we found out that even if you don’t play sport, just talking about it makes you just as hungry.