It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the third of our Future State Greats Ltd (FSG) e newsletters.

FSG makes funding available to Queensland school students between the ages of 10 - 19 years who want to play sports but for some reason find it difficult to do so. 

Only Principals are eligible to apply for and on behalf students that attend their schools. 

For more information go to www.futurestategreat.com.au

October saw the inaugural Future State Greats Golf Day held at Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast. The event was well supported with 26 teams competing and over 100 people attending the dinner. The course was beautifully presented and player’s had the opportunity to “chip off” against FSG recipient Becky Kay, kick a goal at the Queensland Reds sponsored hole or have their photo taken with London Swimming Gold Medallist Brittany Elmslie. Even PGA Major winning golfer Wayne Grady got in to the swing of things.

Those who attended the dinner were entertained by London Gold Medallists Sally Pearson and Brendan Hall, both previous beneficiaries of Future State Greats funding, as well Olympic swimmers Melanie Schlanger and Chris Wright. The audience appreciated their stories and the opportunity to hold a London Olympic Gold Medal.

The highlight of the evening was hearing from 11 year old Kyle Potgeiter and his family about the difficulties Kyle has overcome to participate in Athletics.  Kyle suffers from a rare eye disease which has left him with 3-5% of sight and so simply walking was a real challenge. With encouragement from one of his school teachers, Kyle participated in a school athletics day and through that, his confidence grew and with the support of FSG, Kyle and a guide recently went to the State Titles in Cairns where he competed as a T12 athlete and achieved PB’s in the 100m, 200m and 800m events. We also heard from Kyle’s mum who told us how sport had given much more confidence and his outcomes at school began to improve and he became “much better to live with at home”. Kyle was rewarded for his efforts and made the State Athletics team T12 and now will run in the national titles in Adelaide.

Kyle’s story epitomises a clear goal of Future State Greats and demonstrates that “ Greatness is not measured by what a man or a woman accomplishes but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.” Dorothy Height.

Thanks also to 4BC and Peter Psaltis who broadcast his “Sports Today” program from the Royal Pines venue giving Michael Murphy from QTMB the opportunity to highlight their generous support of Future State Greats and the role QTMB plays in the community. In addition, Ian Healy spoke about the golf day and his vision for Future State Greats and its position in Queensland School Sports.

Name – Jackson Ellis
Age – 10 years
Sport – Track and Field
School – Givelda State School
Cause – Hardship

Jackson Ellis is a student at Givelda State School which currently has only 20 students. Jackson has always competed in the School’s inter-house sports, Small School Sports and this year he was eligible for District Sport where his efforts saw him win the B Grade Schools Runner–up trophy for Givelda.

His efforts led to selection in the Wide Bay Team travelling to the State Titles held in Cairns.  Whilst there Jackson competed in the multi-event (100m sprint, 800m distance, long jump and shot put), high jump and an individual long jump. He claimed two PBs while in Cairns – clearing 1.28m in high jump and getting out at 1.33m his previous best jump being 1.26m; he ran the 800m in 2.46 minutes with his previous best time being 3.25mins.

Jackson’s athletics results are only part of his story. The lady you see cheering in the photo is Jackson’s mother Marteen who is currently fighting cancer and must travel to Brisbane regularly for treatment. Family friend and school teacher aide, Glenis Morse, ran with Jackson every day during the holidays to help with his fitness. The students helped at school with his 800m and to quote Ben Turnbull from the NewsMail

“Because Jackson goes to such a small school he has not been able to train against students of his own age so the school has devised a novel approach to push the Year 5 speedster.

When he trains for the 800m the prep students race part of the way and then each year level runs with Jackson in intervals until his nearest match in speed sprints to the finish line with him.”

What a wonderful example of a small community pulling together to help a student and family to participate in school sport. Preparation for next year has already started and Jackson will be regularly attending the West Bundaberg Little Athletics on a Friday night.

Everyone is very proud of Jackson who is humble about his achievements and Future State Greats is proud to have been able to assist Jackson and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

I call on all Principals to nominate other worthy causes like Jacksons and assist us to … Find Our Next Great Story!

Yours in sport