Trainee Lyneeka experiences trip of a life-time
Back in March this year, AFL Queensland Development Officer Trainee for Mackay, Lyneeka Malone received the Chris Johnson and Angie Nadredre Cup Award at the annual AFL SportsReady Trainee Awards night in Brisbane.
Lyneeka participated in a tour last week, across several Cape York communities, playing a key role in telling her story and encouraging the indigenous youth in the Cape to attend school.
Lyneeka also had the opportunity to test herself at coaching one of the female primary teams during the trip, which happened to also win the Angie Nadredre Cup under her guidance.
Mackay.AFLQ.com.au spoke to Lyneeka on her return.
“Throughout the trip I learnt and discovered so much, the main thing I learnt while on the trip was no matter how hard you think you have it there is always someone out there doing a whole lot worse than you,” Miss Malone said.”
“Being in Bamaga and seeing everything there really changed my outlook on many things as the people living in that community don’t have much and don’t have many opportunities.”
“I got to learn about my culture a little more, listen to people from all walks of life and hear about how they became the person they are today and seeing the amazing sites and places of the outback,” Lyneeka added.”
Speaking about her role on the trip, Lyneeka came back more passionate and determined to change more peoples lives.
“My role on the trip was to talk to the students, try to encourage them to do well in school and also tell them my story.”
“Trying to tell the students my story was both very difficult and something to remember.”
“I had students come up to me and say 'Lyneeka your story was so inspirational you have inspired me”
“Hearing people say that meant so much, it means so much more to me than all the wealth in the world to have known you’ve made a difference in someone’s life.”
“It just makes me want to be able to go to more places like that and tell my story trying to inspire and encourage more students,” Lyneeka added.
Lyneeka has now returned to Mackay and will no doubt continue to make a difference in her role as the AFL Queensland Development Officer Trainee over her last few months.
DATE: Wednesday, 19 October 2015
ARTICLE: Originally published by Jeff Neumann, Regional Manager AFL Queensland in Mackay as a story on www.foxsportspulse.com
IMAGE: Lyneeka (on the left) taking a selfie at the tip of Cape York, at the lunch stop on the way back at Musgrave Station, with one of the students at Fruitbat Falls, an idyllic waterhole for swimming.
