As part of the Paul Wellens testimonial, GPW took Paul to local schools for assemblies to raise awareness of the game, where he met with the children and gave advice. Paul spoke about how he got where he is now and informed children that there are many paths you can take after leaving school, and as long as you work hard and are focussed in school you will have endless doors open to you.
Paul took part in a question and answer session where the children got to ask Paul questions on how he became a professional rugby player, what his interests were and what he would be doing if he wasn’t a rugby player. Paul said that if hadn’t gone into rugby he would probably have been a teacher, as most of his family are in teaching. He informed the children that when his career as a player comes to an end he would like to get into the coaching side. He also handed out flyers for the chance to win one of ten signed testimonial balls at the testimonial game. The draw for this took place at the GPW Recruitment Stadium during half time at Pauls Testimonial match, with GPW’s Mark Parish and Michelle Goodwin pulling out the winning tickets. Staff from GPW also attended the day to help out with brochure selling and charity auctions.
In the weeks after the match GPW’s Rebecca Shaw went with Paul to the schools to present the winners with their prizes and later went down with framed photos of the presentations for the schools to keep.
Paul spoke about his testimonial match and how GPW had been involved in organising the day. Once the assembly had finished Paul had pictures taken with the children as well as signing autographs which created much excitement amongst the pupils. Hopefully the activities have raised awareness for the game of rugby league in general as well as allowing children to get up close and personal with a local sporting hero.