Beyond the rough-and-tumble of rugby league, Josh Rizk found an unexpected calling working in disability support while chasing his dream of a professional sporting career.
The 25-year-old from Sydney was playing Jersey Flegg, an under-21 men’s NSW competition, for the Wests Tigers after finishing school in 2018, when the club helped him find work.
He had never considered disability support before, but the opportunity would ultimately change the direction of his career.
“I’d never heard of the NDIS before I actually started at Chatswood High School with the Tigers,” Josh told Yahoo News.
Sydney rugby league player John Rizk has revealed how he found his love for disability support work. Source: Supplied
Josh began working at Chatswood High School, on Sydney’s north shore, and quickly discovered he loved helping people.
“I just fell in love with the thought of helping someone out,” he said.
“It was probably one of the best feelings in the world.”
The experience made him realise that support work was something he could see himself doing in the long term, even as he continued to pursue his rugby league ambition.
For Josh, the work can involve everything from helping people with personal care to taking more independent clients into the community and helping them interact with others.
“Not every day is the same. That’s the beauty of the job,” he said.
“It’s never easy. Mentally, it’s never easy.”
Josh plays in the Sydney Shield for the Wentworthville Magpies. Source: Supplied
Juggling footy and support work
Josh is still pursuing his rugby league dream, currently playing in the Sydney Shield for the Wentworthville Magpies, while hoping to secure a contract for next season.
Alongside footy, he works in construction with his father while continuing to build his career in disability support.
He described the combination as exhausting at times, with some days stretching from 7am through to evening training.
But he said seeing the impact he can have on someone makes the long days worthwhile.
“The impact of seeing the client in an environment that they’re not used to and the way they’re happy… makes it so much easier to want to wake up the next morning,” he said.
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Josh Rizk is still pursuing his rugby league dream while working as a disability support worker. Source: Supplied
Friends rally around his career
Despite pursuing a career outside what he described as a traditional path for young men, Josh said his friends had embraced his decision to work in disability support.
“I don’t know if it’s just a stigma that the boys always just think, oh, we need to go straight into construction because that’s what a man should be doing,” he said.
Several of his friends, as well as their partners, work in nursing, physiotherapy, exercise physiology and other areas of healthcare, and he said many had offered to help if he needed support.
“Everyone’s pretty on board and helpful in that sense,” Josh said.
“There’s not one person I know in my life that has said what I’m doing is wrong.”
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