Te Urewera Potini receives Mount Isa young sportsman of the year

Potini was a child prodigy at softball and now excels at rugby league and his overall sporting excellence was acknowledged at the Mount Isa City Council on Australia Day where he was awarded young sportsman of the year.

Potini said it was a great honour to receive the award.

"It's pretty cool to know that people believe in me," Potini said.

Potini started playing junior softball (Peanut League tee-ball) in New Zealand when he was just three years old, playing with the same club for six years.

He moved to Australia with his family in 2011 at the age of nine and played for the Rebels and Red Devils Softball clubs, receiving awards for Most Valuable Player, Player of the Year and Best Slugger.

He also represented Mount Isa in the U/17s softball teams at state competitions, was selected for the 2019 U/17s Queensland team, and was nominated for the Players' Player Award at the 2019 Queensland tournament. He was even selected to represent Queensland at the 2019 December Nationals in Sydney.

Now Te Urewera has his sights set on rugby league. He has now moved to Townsville to pursue his dream of playing in the NRL and is on his way to playing for QRL side Black Hawks who are also the North Queensland Cowboys' development squad.

Potini said he has loved the move to the coast.

"It's been really good training with the Black Hawks, we play our first trial game in just a few weeks," Pontini said.

"I am learning heaps and training three times a week, it has been worthwhile so far already."

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