Sienna Thomas - CCSC - Autobiography

Why Rugby League Has Been Such a Big Part of My Life:

Sport has been such an influence on who I am today. This is because ever since I've been able to walk I've been running around with my family in the backyard playing footy. I was never old enough to play footy when my brother did because girls footy was never a thing. I've always grown up with footy being very important to my dad as he played his whole life and has been coaching since the age of 19. He coached my older brother throughout his whole junior career.

The first year girls rugby league became a thing on the central coast was when I was 13 and I played in the very first competition for the Wyong Roos. There was only 3 teams in the whole under 14's girls competition, so we would get used to playing the same team over and over. As soon as I was involved in the game I felt such a connection to it. I knew I would love it. I always played oztag and touch footy from a very young age and it was good to have a fresh start in a new game.

I was picked in the lisa fiola under 17's team, but then unfortunatly dislocted my shoulder again in the first 5 minutes of the first game so was ruled out of that season. I then got offered a NRLW contract for 2024&2025. I was very grateful for the 2024 experience seeing as though I learnt so much because I wasn't able to play my Lisa Fiola season. It was also a bonus because we won the grand final and I was apart of a premiership winning team.

Primary School:

I started primary school when I was 5 years old and turned 6 in February the same month I began. I was always so excited to finally go to 'big school'. Because I was born so early in the year, my mum thought I was ready the year before and wanted to send me early. I was very little though so she held back to go the correct year and I'm now glad she did. I got my license before my friends now and am always the oldest one and couldn't image being going a year earlier and feeling like the youngest all the time. In Kindergarten, I was very smart and academic, I was also very naturally athletic. We then had the cross country not long after I began school. I was so excited but so nervous for what felt like the run of my life. As we began the race I was out infront, we only had to do one lap around our school oval. There was then another girl that was right on my heels toward the finish line. It was so close all the way until the end. I ended coming first place and the other girl came second.

Later that day at recess I saw that girl playing on the monkey bars at our playground and went over to her. We started talking about the race that happened. That's how I met my best friend. Ever since that day we played with eachother everyday. As we got older we then played in all our sporting teams together as well. Moving on through primary school, I became 'green house captain'. This was one of our sporting house names. I was very honored to be a captain of my house group because it made me feel like I was able to be a leader to the younger kids at my school through sport. Moving into year 6 and knowing it was my last year at primary school, I knew I was so ready for high school. I felt like I was matured enough to begin early and couldn't wait to start.

Playing My Sport:

Playing sport to me has always been an outlet for me. When something in my life feels down or I feel sad, going to training with my team, going to the gym, or going on a run always helps me feel so much better. Being able to have the opportinuty to run and excersie I will never take for granted now due to my setbacks. I enjoy going to footy training and having a goal to push myself in everything I do there. It feels like I'm stepping back from any issues and doing something that always puts a smile on my face. Any sport I've played has always seemed to bring me joy but being around my friends at rugby league seems to make it alot more enjoyable for my time there.

My Family :

There are five people in my family. I have two brothers, one who is 21 and one who is 11. We live at Summerland point and have lived there our whole life. There is a bit age gap between myslelf, my younger brother and older brother. When my older brother (Jack) and I were young and growing up, we always had each other to play with and keep each other entertained. There's only two years and 4 months bwteen us, but with our little brother (Cruze) he's 10 years younger than Jack and 7 years younger than me. So growing up Cruze didn't really have another younger sibling he was able to play with and connect with because of such an age gap. He just wanted to be like his older brother when he was young and would copy everything he did, so now that he is a little bit older he does have a good relationship with Jack. My dad owns a family business that has been passed down between his dad and brothers. My mum also works for the business as well.

Jack:

When we were younger, Jack began playing footy when he was 7 years old. He played for the Toukley Hawks and has continued to play there his whole life up until now. My dad has also coached his league team up until the under 17's, which was his whole junior competition. I used to love going and watching his games but some weekends I was playing netball at the same time and wouldn't be able to make it. Growing up watching Jack and dad be so involved in their sports made me want to play rugby league and be around that type of environment, except when I was younger, If I wanted to play I would've had to play with the boys up until the under 12's and then stop playing. So I just continued playing netball and then when girl's footy began for the first time when I was 13, I made mum sign me up as soon as she was able to.

Dad :

Dad has coached me in Oztag since I was 8 years old and touch since I was 12. If Dad has a team he's coaching he puts so much time and effort into making sure he's doing the best for every single player in the team. He takes time out of his work to leave early and come and train our teams because he just wants the best for us all. My dad is a very loyal person and would do anything for our family. My dad and I have had a special connection since I started playing sport and was little because of my natural skill I had, he knew I had a future in sport. It's what I loved doing and he would push me after me school to do extras and tell me If I want to be the best I have to train when everyone else wasn't. Sometimes this would annoy me because I didn't feel like training or doing those things but now that I'm older and have gotten to where I've got, I appreciate him pushing me and doing those extra training sessions to make me better. Making NRLW and being where I am today, I wouldn't have been able to do it without my dad. Having two major injuries as well has pulled me out of what I loved for a while but dad, whose made me so mentally strong, has helped me get through these times when I was all alone. My dad also works a lot seeing as though he has his own business he puts his heart, sweat and tears into his job just like anything else he does, it's always 100%.

Challenges I've Faced

On the 3rd of february I had my very first game back after 5 months of not playing rugby league, the Lisa Fiola roosters season began and I was so excited to play my very first game. I'd had been training for a very long time. I had been out for 5 months due to 2 shoulder sublax's and had finally built the strength back in my shoulder to be cleared to play. When we ran our and the game began I was so thrilled to make my first tackle. I used to like doing this to make myself to feel like I'm in the game. We were defending our line. A girl ran at as I moved up to make the tackle with the girl next to me we both went in hard and I felt amazing. As the tackle was being made, another girl in my team came over to help get her down but accidentally grabbed onto me and my shoulder and took me off the tackle. Her body weight landed on me and that's when I knew it. I heard two cracks in my shoulder. As I went to push off the ground, I couldn't move my arm and I knew I had done something bad. I thought I'd be fine to stay on but as I was helped up my shoulder had came out of it's socket in two different directions. I had no strength to hold my arm up. I was helped off the field with the support of my jersey and trainer holding under my arm. My heart dropped. I sat down on the sideline and the doctor came over to me. She gave my the green whistle as I was in so much pain and she had to put my shoulder back into place. My Mum came over to me with my brother as they saw it happen. When the doctor went to push my shoulder back into place I passed out and didn't feel a thing, so I was slightly gratful for that. 4 weeks later I had a shoulder reconstruction becuase I was told if I didn't, I was never able to play rugby league ever again.

Round 2 :

After 9 months of rehab on my left shoulder and sucessfully being cleared to tackle and finally play rugby league again, I began training. I was finally feeling the fittest and strongest i've ever been and my shoulder couldn't have felt better. It came to my first traning after I had been cleared and I knew we had a 100% contact drill. I finished doing a conditioning drill and was very tired after that. I then went in to the defence drill, feeling very confident to make my first hard tackle back. The drill was a 6 x 6 meter square. The attacker had to try their hardest to score at one end of the box and the defender had to stop them. In the drill I was the defender and went in to make thr tackle, as I made contact the tackle was almost complete. As I landed ontop of her and hit the ground I feel my right shoulder dislocate (the other shoulder to what I had surgery on). I instantly knew what I was up for. My shoulder stayed out for 45 minutes as I sat on the field. The physio could not get it back in, seeing as though my shoulder fell down the side of my arm, it was a harder position to gert back in. We rang an abulance to come and pick me up but they said it was a 2 hour wait. My coach then had to drive his car onto the oval where I was sitting and had to help me get into his car with the ball in my shoulder still out of the socket. As I tried to stand up with assistance of the physio I felt my shoulder slliding around on the inside. I eventually got in the car and we were on our way to the hosptial, while having my arm held by our physio who was sitting with me in the back of the car. 12 minutes later we arrived at the hospital and i was taken inside, I went straight into a room and they gave me the green whistle after 2 seconds I passed out and when I woke up they finally had got my shoulder back into place. I went and got an x-ray and insantly felt alot better that it was back in place now. 2 week later I had a shoulder recontruction on that shoulder and now have two metal shoulders.

Why I'm Grateful For This Experience:

I believe that this experience and the challenges I have faced have shaped me into the person I am today. As I continue my recovery and go through rehab, I face new challenges every day. I’ve realised that when training gets tough or I encounter obstacles in life, I remind myself of the times I was stuck at home, injured, wishing I could move or run again like normal. Now, when I feel exhausted at training, I remember that I’ve endured far worse pain with my shoulder. I’ve become much more grateful for the little things in life, like being able to run and pass a footy which were things that once felt effortless. I no longer take for granted the ability to move my arm properly, and for not having to be in a sling anymore. I know that this set back has made me such a mentally stronger person because of the adversity I faced.

Growing Up:

I grew up in a home on the central coast and have continued to live there until this day. I have lived in a home with a big backyard that backs onto lake maquarie lake. Growing up we've always been out on the lake alot so I feel like going out in the boat or on the jetski's is where I feel safe and free, it always seemed to help clearn my mind. When I was born until I was about 10 years old, my next door neighbours were my cousins. All three of my dads brothers bought the houses next door to us on the water as well, they all had 4 sons each, so growing up with nearly 20 so called brothers is why I love footy and sport so much. We would all run around, play footy, wrestle and play every opportunity in our backyards we got. It was like we had a huge footy field when we would use all of our backyards as one.

High School:

On the first day of high school I was so nervous. The high school I began at was St Brigid's catholic college. My brother went there and was in year ten when I began. He wasn't there for me on my first day though because the year seven's got to start a day early to get a feel for high school without too many crowds and not knowing where to go. My friends and I met on the other side of a bridge and our mums dropped us off there. We then all walked to school together, over the bridge and down to school. We were all so nervous not knowing what to expect, but I knew high school would've been the best thing for me. Having more freedom and having to be more mature was exactly what I was looking forward too.

Coming home on my first day I was so happy and so excited, it felt like high school was going to go forever. Now, writing this in year 12, it's felt like the quickest time of my life.

Cruze :

Our family wouldn't feel normal if we didn't have Cruze in it. Cruze is 11 years old and plays a huge roll in my life. Having a younger sibling always brings so much joy into our family and lives. Cruze started playing rugby league when he was 7 as well, because dad coached Jack his whole life it was only fair to do Cruze too. So from U/7's until now (U/11's), Cruze has grown and learnt so much as a footy player. He loves rugby league so much. He watches every game that comes on and is a crazy bulldogs fan. Cruze rides motobrike's, plays footy, Oztag and touch. He enjoys being outside any opportunity he gets. Our house definitely knows when Cruze is at training or Nan and Pop's house because we wonder why it's so quiet. He definitely knows how to keep everyone in our house on their toes.

Mum:

My mum has such a big influence on my life. She's around all the time and would do anything for me. Growing up my siblings and I always played so many sports. One year I had 3 grand finals on one day for 3 different sports, and my mum was there to drive me to and from each game. She's always taken me to any training session I have needed to get too and any game I had on. Some how my mum has so much time in the day to juggle getting herself ready, taking my brother to school, then going to work, doing the groceries, picking my brother up from school then taking him to and from footy training in the afternoon, and then by the time I get home from my training, dinner is cooked and ready for everyone to eat. I don't think our house would function properly without my mum in it. I appreciate all the things she does for my myself and my family.