NRL
JERRY TURVEY - NRL
From a young age I played AFL and Rugby League at school like most Aussie kids. At age 13 I was selected for representative football.
At age 15 I signed with the Harold Matthews Illawarra Steelers and SG Ball St George Illawarra Dragons. At 18 I then signed with the Melbourne Storm Feeder Club Sunbury Tigers for the under 19’s which lead to qualifying for combined affiliated state team under 19’s.
At 19 I signed with the Melbourne Storm under 20’s team and played at State Cup level.
The path my footy carer was taking had me headed straight towards NRL with the potential of an incredible future playing at first grade, as many of the blokes I was training with succeeded to do. However a bad collision lead to me tearing my ACL, a devastating carer ending injury for me. This could have been limited to season ending only, but sadly my first knee reconstruction was done incorrectly, which meant I would need a subsequent 3 more surgery’s over the following 8 years.
My entire life was affected from this one incident. My mental state struggled to comprehend my dream disappearing, I became very depressed and over time turned to drugs and poor nutrition and lifestyle choices.
It wasn’t until a few years later when I would meet my now wife, a Professional Health and Fitness Coach, Athlete and Australian Stunt Woman, that my life took a sudden turn of healing and positive change. With the influence and inspiration of this amazing woman I underwent my own transformation, physically and mentally and found a new path in life as an athlete which gave me back some of my lost hope of achieving in high level sport. I am now a well respected, highly ranked outrigger paddler having made it to representative level being selected for the Australian Elite Mens team to compete in the Long Distance World Championships in Samoa in 2023.