James Cook Uni in Townsville to have a "pep rally" for the USA Hawks...
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.a...r/news-story/746f4e6ba5c078b62ad6d0ee7cb76eee
JAMES Cook University and the North Queensland Cowboys are ready to give team USA a welcome to remember.
The USA Eagles fly into tTownsville today and will spend a fortnight in the city as they prepare for their Rugby League World Cup pool game against Fiji on Friday night at 1300SMILES Stadium, followed by their clash against Italy on November 5.
JCU’s large community of American exchange students are performing an America-style prep rally at JCU on Monday afternoon, where the Cowboys Under-20s squad will also join the Eagles for a training session.
A group of JCU sports and event management students have also been working behind the scenes to help make sure everything runs smoothly on game day.
One of them is Cowboys player Reuben Cotter, who has used his down time from surgery to further his tertiary studies.
“It’s definitely good to get among the World Cup, and adding to that is the fact we have American students here to be a part of it,” Cotter said.
“Helping organise the event is awesome, but being a footy player myself makes it a whole lot better.
“For me it’s good to be doing something active as well while I’m injured, obviously I have the time to really get into my studies.
“The Cowboys have been great with supporting me along the way with uni and recovery as well.”
Cotter, a Mackay junior, recently re-signed with the Cowboys until the end of 2019 and is fighting to be fit for 2018 after recently having surgery to his second ACL tear done earlier this year.
Cotter is hopeful that local supporters will thrown their support behind Townsville’s World Cup games.
“It’s different and it’s exciting,” he said.
JCU associate professor Laurie Murphy, who teaches in event management, said it was all systems go for a busy two weeks.
“We hope that Townsville joins us in making the American team feel like they have a home away from home,” she said.
“It also allows our American students to feel a bit patriotic and support the team.”
JCU Student Association vice president and RLWC host city ambassador Sydney Jones is just one American student getting into the World Cup spirit.
“I’m a huge Queenslander fan actually — State of Origin is like my rugby league fix — and I’ve been to a couple of Cowboys games,” she said.
“I really enjoy the sport and it’s a lot more fast paced than (American) football, I really respect it in general.”
