by Israel Folau
About the Book
The Valley rugby team is travelling to Queensland with their coach, Israel Folau. Will the boys’ first trip be a great feat or a great failure?
Daniel and Sione are finally starting to get along. On arrival in Queensland, their team plays a match against a local school and get soundly beaten. The boys, who believed they were destined for glory, come crashing back to earth. Things no longer seem that sunny in the Sunshine State.
It’s time to go back to basics, with Izzy showing Daniel and Sione the way. Their future as a team depends on it.
Includes training tips from Izzy!
Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Chapter 1: Sione
Chapter 2: Daniel
Chapter 3: Sione
Chapter 4: Sione
Chapter 5: Daniel
Chapter 6: Sione
Chapter 7: Daniel
Chapter 8: Daniel
Chapter 9: Sione
Chapter 10: Daniel
Chapter 11: Sione
Chapter 12: Daniel
The Valley Team
Izzy Folau
Izzy’s Training Tips: The Scrum
Also in the Series
Copyright Notice
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The ball is taken from underneath the pile of players, then passed out to the fly-half, the centre and on to the wing. Taito’s in the clear! He passes one, two, three de fenders, cuts back inside and SCORES! Right under the posts! What an amazing effort by the young winger, gaining the Wallabies the lead in the World Cup final! The home crowd is going wild and rightfully so …
Sione jolted awake, then looked around at his teammates. The boys were laughing and joking as the bus pulled out of Coolangatta Airport and onto the Gold Coast Highway. Sione sat in his usual way, looking out the window, deep in thought. He yawned, then smiled. The flight to Queensland had been short but fantastic. It was the first time he’d been on a plane since he was a baby, and the fact that he was on it as a representative rugby player with his coach – Wallaby Izzy Folau – had only made it better.
Being selected for the Valley rep side had been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for Sione. He had been flattered, but sure he wasn’t worthy of his place on the team. Their three-day stay at a conference centre had been so full of ups and downs that, unlike all of his teammates, Sione was secretly hoping they wouldn’t have the time to visit one of the Gold Coast’s famous theme parks. He didn’t think his stomach could take it!
Daniel, the team’s fly-half and self-imposed captain, was sitting next to Sione as he talked with Adam and Jake across the aisle. After a rocky beginning, he and Sione had grown something of a friendship between themselves.
‘Check it out, everyone!’ Izzy called from the front of the bus. He pointed out the right-hand side of the vehicle as a long stretch of sand and sea became visible. The sun, now beginning to sink lower in the sky, projected its golden rays across the shimmering waves. Sione had been to the beach before but this was amazing. The sand went for miles!
Some of the boys began asking Izzy and the other adults on tour about when they would be going to the beach and the theme parks. Tom and Mary Parker, acting almost as temporary parents for the twenty boys, laughed.
‘We’ll see!’ Mary said mysteriously, and Izzy winked at them.
Before stopping for the night, however, the Valley boys were taken on a detour to the beach at Surfers Paradise. Though it was getting dark, the place was still packed with swimmers, surfers and beachgoers.
Sione looked out at the seemingly limitless black ocean and listened to its waves crashing on the shore. He shivered. The power of the sea was frightening. He watched the lifesavers take down the red-and-yellow flags. Sione had always disliked swimming in the ocean, and found it more unnerving now that the beach was unguarded.
After the boys had their fill of running around on the sand, they were herded back onto the bus. TJ, the team’s fullback, had somehow got sand through his hair and was shaking it out all over the place. A few of the boys who had taken off their shoes to run along the shoreline clambered onto the bus barefooted and dripping wet.
Daniel, sitting next to Sione once again, laughed at their plight. ‘You should have thought of that before!’ he called, as the bus returned to the road, bound for the Paradise Motor Inn.
Sione collected his bags and looked up at the giant neon palm tree, sighing happily. This was it. He wasn’t just a rep player anymore – he was on tour. Interstate! For better or worse, he was now on the team. He hoped his performances on the field here would be better than back home.
This time, each boy had his own bed. No bunks! After selecting who slept where, Daniel put his suitcase at the end of his bed and declared himself unpacked.
‘You still keeping that then?’ Jake asked, watching Sione stick up the email Izzy had sent all of them, inviting them to be part of the Valley rep team.
Sione nodded. ‘Of course,’ he said simply. ‘Izzy wrote it.’
‘But we know Izzy now,’ Adam said. ‘We can go down a few doors and actually talk to him.’
Sione shrugged. It made him feel good just the same. Getting that email was the first time he had ever felt special as a rugby player.
‘Forget about it, guys,’ Daniel said, his stomach grumbling. ‘Anyway, it’s dinnertime.’
The four boys ran out of their room and to the dining room that stood at the front of the property. ‘I hope it’s steak,’ Adam said as they walked inside.
Jake raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you kidding? Give me pizza any day.’
They quickly chose a table and sat down as the rest of the team filtered through the doors. Waiters were carrying tubs of food and placing them at a buffet counter that ran along the back wall.
‘Awesome!’ Daniel said, pumping his fist. ‘We can pick what we like.’
‘Steak!’ Adam yelled.
‘Pizza!’ Jake shouted.
‘Careful, Sione,’ Daniel said. ‘You have to carry your food back to your table, so make sure you don’t drop it like you drop rugby balls.’
The others laughed at this, while Sione sank lower in his seat. Why did Daniel say that? Is he my friend or not? Sione sat in silence, fuming.
Before he could say anything, Jeremy Fisk, the tour manager, clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. ‘I have a few things to go through with you all before we eat,’ he said to the crowd of Valley reps.
Daniel groaned and rolled his eyes.
‘First, thanks for a great flight – your behaviour was exceptional. I think we’ll have a fantastic four days here. Second, tomorrow we’ll go to Sunshine High School. They’ve been nice enough to lend us an oval to train at for the next few days. We’ll be playing our first practice match against one of their sides on Wednesday. There’ll also be a game against another school on Thursday, and we leave on Friday. Then, it’s on to Darwin and finally Sydney for the Championships.’
Hands shot up all over the dining room.
‘What about the beach?’ one boy asked.
‘When do we go to the theme parks?’ said another.
Chuckling, Izzy stood up and quieted everyone. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be going to the beach a few times,’ he said with a big smile. ‘We’ll train and cool down there after our games.’
‘And the theme parks?’ Daniel reminded him.
‘We just aren’t here for very long,’ Izzy said. ‘We have so much to do in so little time –’ the sound of the boys sighing filled the room – ‘so we can only spare tomorrow afternoon for roller-coasters and dodgem cars!’
Daniel punched the air in celebration as a deafening cheer rose up from the Valley team. Even Sione joined in thi
s time.
Sunshine High had a couple of football fields and the one that had been loaned to Valley was at the back of the school, along its perimeter, with the beach visible in the distance.
No wonder there’s so much sand in the grass, Daniel thought, looking down.
He strapped on his headgear and stood with the others along the touchline. Besides games, training was the greatest part of his week back at home, and it wasn’t much different on tour. Daniel loved showing off his skills and working on improving his abilities. He enjoyed it so much that, after each training session, he’d start counting down the hours to the next one.
Izzy kicked off the day’s session with warm-up drills that were now so familiar to the team that the boys could have done them in their sleep. They had to do various skipping and stretching exercises, moving back and forth between the line and where Izzy stood.
Daniel took each exercise seriously. He wanted to impress Izzy and his teammates. This youth rep team and the State Championships would not be the pinnacle of Daniel’s rugby career – he had much bigger plans – but performing well in front of the selectors at the state comp was important. His dad had constantly reminded him of this before the tour began and his words ‘never settle for second best’ rang through Daniel’s mind during every training session.
There were passing drills, tackling drills as well as scrum and line-out practice. After that, Izzy separated the team into forwards and backs so that each position could concentrate on their own specific needs.
‘Daniel,’ Izzy said, ‘can you look after the backs for a minute while I do some rucking work with the forwards?’
Daniel nodded, beaming with pride. Jake and Adam shared a look and rolled their eyes, knowing they wouldn’t hear the end of it that night.
Izzy gave him a thumbs up. ‘Simply send them all back towards the tryline while you kick for touch from here. Just make sure you don’t let it go into touch so they have to gain possession of the ball before passing it along the back line, okay?’
‘Sure,’ Daniel said, and Izzy jogged off to the other half of the field with the forwards. ‘Gather around, everyone,’ Daniel ordered, beckoning for the boys to form a semicircle around him. The backs did so reluctantly. ‘Listen up, I’ll be your coach for this drill and I only want to explain it once, okay?’
Eric, one of the centres, laughed. ‘Who are you? Coach of the Wallabies? Don’t talk to us like that.’
Daniel shot him a dark look. ‘Izzy’s asked me to run this, so do as I say.’
‘You sound stuck-up,’ said Steven, one of the wingers, and everyone laughed. ‘Just talk normally.’
‘Hey! Listen to me or you’re all on the bench tomorrow,’ Daniel demanded.
‘You can’t say that!’ Steven said.
‘Who do you think you are, anyway?’ said another boy.
Eric folded his arms across his chest. ‘He only asked you to run this because you’re the kicker.’
Izzy looked over to the group of backs and frowned. They hadn’t begun their drills yet. ‘Daniel, is everything okay there?’ he called.
Daniel gulped. ‘Yeah, except no one is listening to what I’m trying to tell them.’
Izzy jogged over to investigate the situation and explain the drill to everyone. ‘I’ll be back in a few minutes to see how you’re going,’ he said to the group, ‘but right now I’m trying to work with the forwards. Daniel’s running this until I get back, and I’m more than happy for him to do it.’
‘See!’ Daniel sneered.
Izzy bent down and whispered in the boy’s ear. ‘You may find the boys are more receptive if you treat them nicely. Remember – a smile goes a long way.’ He smiled wide at the backs to show Daniel what he meant.
‘Ow!’
Izzy and the boys turned to see Adam at the bottom of a tackle, holding his leg in pain. The other forwards lifted themselves off him and he rolled about on the grass.
‘What happened?’ Izzy said, running towards him with all the backs following close behind. Tom and Mary ran in from the touchline with a first-aid kit.
‘I don’t know,’ Jake piped up. ‘Adam had the ball and we tackled him and then he screamed.’
‘But I asked you guys not to go ahead without me,’ Izzy said. ‘Adam, are you all right?’
Tom checked Adam’s leg. ‘I think he’s sprained his ankle. We’ll take him to the medical centre.’
Izzy nodded while all the boys looked down at their teammate in silence. Mary pulled some icepacks from an esky and expertly taped them to Adam’s ankle before he limped from the field, supported on either side by her and Tom.
The boys called out words of comfort and Adam gingerly held up a hand in thanks.
‘Well, that’s certainly taken the wind out of things, hasn’t it?’ Izzy said.
Daniel was stunned. Adam was a great hooker who they needed on their team, but more than that, he was a fun guy. Was his tour over? Would he have to go home? All the boys knew that injury was possible, but it wasn’t something any of them had ever expected to happen on their tour. Daniel had been so confident only moments before, but now it felt like their team was a puzzle with a big piece missing.
The room was quiet as Jake, Sione and Daniel got ready for their trip to the theme park. What was potentially going to be the highlight of the entire trip now seemed like a waste of time.
‘Do you think he’ll be okay?’ Sione asked for the hundredth time.
Daniel didn’t bother to answer, he just shrugged his shoulders and tied his shoelaces. Then there was a knock at the door and Jake went to open it.
‘Adam!’ he said in surprise.
Adam limped into the room, with the help of two metal crutches. He was still in his training gear, one boot in his hand, his injured foot heavily strapped. ‘Hey, guys.’
‘Are you okay? How’s the leg? Want me to help?’ Sione asked.
Daniel laughed. ‘If you didn’t notice, he’s been a little worried about you. Are you going to be okay?’
Adam nodded. ‘It’s only a sprain. They said I should be walking in a few days, but I won’t be in any of the Gold Coast games.’
‘So you can play in Darwin?’ Jake asked. ‘You don’t have to go home?’
‘No, look! It’s better already.’ Adam showed that he was able to put a little bit of weight on his injured foot.
‘Don’t!’ Sione yelled. ‘You’ll make it worse.’
‘Can you come to the theme park?’ Daniel asked.
Adam shook his head. ‘I can’t go on the rides or anything, so I might as well stay behind.’
‘Just come anyway,’ Daniel said. ‘We’ll walk with you. Even if we have to miss out on some stuff, you’re part of the team – you’re coming!’
For once, Daniel’s forthright attitude was welcomed. Jake and Sione agreed wholeheartedly – they were all in this together and they would stick with Adam, even if it meant a less exciting afternoon for them.
‘Besides,’ Daniel continued, ‘you don’t want to miss out on going to a theme park with Izzy Folau, do you?’
Adam got dressed as quickly as he could and the four of them were soon walking to the team’s bus at the front of the Paradise Motor Inn. They were the last to get on, and when Adam’s face appeared at the front of the bus, all the other Valley players broke into loud applause.
‘Three cheers for Adam!’ Daniel shouted, and the team obeyed his command.
‘HOORAY!’
Sione felt a thrill as he walked through the gates of the theme park. He brushed past the crowds, smelled the popcorn and marvelled at the people dressed up as cartoon characters. But as happy as he was, nothing compared to Daniel’s excitement. He was so full of beans to be there that he was literally jumping all over the place.
After the boys were organised into their groups and a meeting spot was determined, Sione, Adam, Jake, TJ and Izzy followed Daniel to the first destination. Daniel headed straight for the biggest roller-coaster Sione had ever laid eye
s on. The rest of the group walked behind him at a slower pace in order to stay with Adam – something that Daniel seemed oblivious to.
‘We said we were going to stick with Adam and do things he would be able to do,’ Jake said. ‘Why are we running to the roller-coasters first?’
Adam shrugged as best as he could while on his crutches.
‘This might help Daniel to get it out of his system,’ Izzy suggested. ‘Then we’ll go watch a stunt show or something that we can all enjoy. We’re only here for a few hours.’
‘Can’t we just let Daniel do his own thing and meet up with him later?’ TJ said as Daniel called to them to hurry up.
Izzy chuckled and shook his head. ‘We should stick together, mate. I can’t lose one of the team here – we’d never find them again!’
They soon found themselves standing in front of The Viper, a towering, steel construction. It looks more like something that has been designed to maim people than entertain them, Sione thought. He watched a green train zoom up and down at lightning speed. As it looped high in the sky, screams could be heard coming from its carriages. One of the trains pulled to a stop nearby and dozens of people emerged, dizzy and flustered, with their hair in knots.
‘I’ll stay behind with Adam,’ Sione offered, already feeling queasy. ‘You guys go.’
‘Come on!’ Daniel called to them, already in the queue.
‘Are you sure?’ Izzy asked. ‘Please don’t wander off, though.’
As a row of carriages roared along the tracks overhead, Sione nodded his head. ‘We’ll wait on this bench for you.’
Izzy patted Sione on the shoulder as he sat down with Adam to watch the boys have their adventure. Adam was sitting with his injured leg straight out in front of him, his back curved and his face in his hands.
