NEWCASTLE Knights rugby league star Trent Hodkinson visited Morisset High School on Wednesday, surprising a group of year 9 students by hosting their PE class and joining them in a game of Oztag.
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But it was a plucky year 10 student, Jakob Marsland, who was to spring the biggest surprise of the morning.
Urged on by his mates, Jakob, 16, politely approached Hodkinson during an autograph-signing session and produced a wooden spoon for the last-placed Knights’ skipper to sign.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever had somebody ask me to sign one of those,” Hodkinson said, smiling as he signed the spoon.
Jakob’s mates were suitably impressed, and they all thanked Hodkinson for being a good sport.
Jakob told the Lakes Mail that he couldn’t wait to show the spoon to his step-dad Marshall Boston.
“I was at home last night when I asked my step-dad if he reckoned Trent Hodkinson would sign a wooden spoon,” Jakob said.
“He bet me $20 that Trent wouldn’t do it.”
Jakob said he looked forward to collecting his winnings after school.
The big winner from the day, however, was the John Hunter Children’s Hospital as the school raised $1148 at its Cupcakes for Kids with Cancer event.
Hodkinson visited the school at the request of year 7 student Jacinta Gomez, whom he met through his children’s charity, Tren7's Kick for Kids.
The charity, founded by the halfback in 2014, involves Hodkinson writing the name of a seriously sick child on his kicking tee before each NRL match.
The child then gets to see their name on the tee on television, or on the big screen at the game.
After the game, Hodkinson also presents each child with an assortment of goodies, including a Knights’ jersey, the kicking tee, and gift vouchers.
“I just thought the charity would be a good way to take each kid’s mind off what they were going through, even just for a little while, and to put a smile on their face,” Hodkinson said.
He met Jacinta, who continues to battle leukaemia, earlier this season when he wrote her name on his kicking tee in the NRL match against Souths.
“She’s a great young lady,” Hodkinson said of Jacinta.
“She’s such a strong and happy person, so when she asked me if I was able to come down [to her school] and help out I jumped at the opportunity because I knew what it meant to her.”
Hodkinson proved the perfect drawcard, and sales assistant, as the school sold every one of the 500-plus cupcakes that students and parents had baked for the day.
Teacher Rosemairie Dal Cin, who coordinated the cupcakes event, said she was proud of the students’ support.
“I was very glad that the school got behind the day,” Ms Dal Cin said.
“I was hoping that we would raise $1000, and we did that. And we sold every cupcake.”
She said Hodkinson had made a great impression.
“It’s so good for the kids to see such good role models – especially the boys,” she said.
Earlier, Hodkinson joined a year 9 PE class, and gave a short talk about his rugby league journey, and the weekly routine of an NRL player.
He then put the students through some warm-up drills before joining the students on the oval for a game of Oztag, throwing one long cut-out pass for a student to score an impressive try.
