Young sports star Charles Grills is expanding his horizons after being chosen to represent the north west in the rugby union Primary School Sports Association state carnival.
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Usually a star in the pool, Grills has reached state level three times before, but his rugby success came as a bit of a surprise.
“I think I’m the only year fiver in that whole team and everyone else is in year six,” the 11-year-old said. In his second season of the game, Grills said he was still new to the sport.
He felt his swimming expertise may have made the difference.
“From when I swim, my shoulders have got really strong. So I’m a forward, so when I push, I just clean them right out,” he said. He said he got his rugby player build from both sides of his family.
The Inverell Public School student is also in the Central North squad, and is excited to have so many opportunities to play footy. His first training session for the north west side will be in Tamworth this weekend.
Grills will join Ryan Campbell, Deon Oakes and Fergus Llyod from Ross Hill Public School on the regional team, and is looking forward to making new friends.
“(I’m) happy, excited. Because I love rugby,” he said.