TGS student loves helping grow game
‘‘ IF I COULDN’T PLAY RUGBY THEN I’D REF – IT’S A GOOD WAY TO GIVE BACK TO THE SPORT. THOMAS KELK
RUGBY UNION: Thomas Kelk doesn’t play favourites when it comes to rugby.
The Toowoomba Grammar School student loves being involved in the game at every level – be it as a player or referee.
He may find himself spending a little more time with the whistle in hand now though.
Alongside The Glennie School student Emilya Byrne, Kelk was recently awarded a 2018 Rugby Australia School Referee Scholarship, one of 27 national recipients.
Kelk, who first played rugby when he was five, has now been a referee for five years.
“I’ve been playing rugby since I was five years old and one day my dad took up refereeing,” Kelk said.
“He asked me if I wanted to have a go refereeing and I said ‘sure why not’ and I got into it from there. I did the Foundation Refereeing course, the Smart Rugby course and last year I did my Level One course and I’ve just been slowly building up my skills and experience from there.”
Kelk said his experiences as a referee had helped advance his game at all levels.
“It’s hard to say exactly what I like about it (refereeing),” he said.
“It’s different from playing rugby – but it allows me to play rugby better because I know all the rules.
“If I couldn’t play rugby then I’d ref – it’s a good way to give back to the sport.
“It helps everybody out.” Kelk, who recently refereed his first senior Darling Downs Rugby Union match, said the key to being a good referee was simple.
“You need to practise and constantly ref games. You need to have a mental procedure you go through every time you make a decision,” he said.
“My first senior game was a challenge, all the players were a lot older than me and knew the rules very well, but it was great. They really respected me.”
Long-term Kelk said he’d love to control a game at the elite level.
“Honestly I’m not the greatest player so if I could ref the game at that level (Super Rugby or Tests) it would be fantastic.”
Kelk isn’t about to give playing the game away just yet though – having recently returned from his school’s tour of the United States.
“We played 11 games there, even though it’s not the biggest sport there was always a good crowd and they were very enthusiastic,” he said.
“We won all our games but they definitely know how to hit. They run fast and competed until the last second.
“One of the boys we played against had been offered more than 30 scholarships for American Football by colleges to play as a linebacker.
“It was a great experience.”