True Blue Paul Langmack is now looking for schools and Rugby League clubs in regional NSW to spread his mental fitness message, after a successful tour of the mid-north coast.
Langmack, a three-time premiership winner with the Bulldogs who played for the NSW Blues in the 1987-1988 State of Origin series, has just finished addressing 500 students from Years 7-10 at Kempsey and Nambucca Heads high schools as part of the NSWRL’s Changing Rooms program.
After his visits, alongside qualified social workers, Langmack gives every student a Rugby League ball.
He is now turning his attention to the Shoalhaven, New England, Moree-Narrabri and south-west Sydney regions of the state.
“I’m looking for more schools, not just for the rest of this year but into next year as well,” he said.
Langmack has already spoken to 2,200 junior Rugby League club players and school students throughout NSW in 2022.
Now into its third year Changing Rooms has proven such a success that the NSWRL has now secured state government funding through the NSW Ministry of Health, to take the face-to-face wellbeing initiative to regional areas across NSW.
“The main message is how to enjoy your life through mental fitness – because we know how good it is to be physically fit,” Langmack said.
“We want the kids to have fun knowing they have the tools to keep themselves mentally fit.
“We are not using the term mental health or illness anymore because they conjure up negative things.
“If I say I’m coming to talk about mental health then the kids immediately think there’s something wrong with them.
“But if I talk about mental fitness, they equate that with sport and physical well-being.
“If your mind is fit then everything else flows nicely too.”
