The PCYC Nations of Origin will return to Raymond Terrace for a third year in July.
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The Worimi Nation will enter eight teams, made up with indigenous and non-indigenous teens from the Port Stephens area, into the three sporting competitions: netball, Football 5's and Rugby 7's.
This will be the third year Kane Chester, 16, from Lemon Tree Passage dons the Worimi jersey in Nations of Origin.
He, along with a number of his classmates from Hunter River High School, will play for the under-16 boys team in the rugby 7's.
“I enjoy being part of it,” Chester said.
“It's good meeting other people, it's good footy. I enjoy learning about other people's cultures, too.”
Nations of Origin, which will be held between July 11 and 13, uses sport as a vehicle to promote reconciliation, education and culture.
It promotes reconciliation by uniting boys and girls aged 13 to 16 from 30 Aboriginal nations in NSW together with those of non-Aboriginal descent through healthy sporting competition.
The event also aims to increase school attendance rates.
Teens are required to have an 80 per cent attendance rate to be eligible to participate.
Brooke Roach, the Aboriginal education officer at Hunter River High and a rugby coach, said Nations of Origin also helped change perceptions.
“Nations are bringing good kids with high school attendance rates here, which helps to change the perception of Aboriginal kids in the community,” he said.
“It also creates a relationship with the PCYC and police.
“The kids can appreciate them more now that they have spent time with officers.”
Port Stephens police officer, senior constable Mick Fortier, has coached the Worimi Nation's rugby sides for two years.
He said as well as it being an outlet for his passion of footy, coaching also helped him develop a friendship with the teens.
“It's great for police to get involved in community events like this,” he said.
“It breaks down barriers.
“The kids can see that we're [police] are human, we are approachable.
“If I've formed a friendship with them and I see them on the street, there is a common friendship there and we can achieve more through that.”
Being the host nation, Worimi are able to field more teams in the event.
There will be two all-girls sides in the netball competition, which will be played at the Raymond Terrace netball courts on Tuesday, July 11.
Worimi will send two teams, an under-14 boy and girls side, to Speers Point on Thursday, July 13 for the football 5's.
Four teams, under-14 and under-16 boys and girls sides, will play in the rugby 7's competitions at Lakeside Sporting Complex between July 12 and 13.