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Rafter rallies round for kids 7 February 1999By Sally MacMillan

A STONE'S throw from the infamous Smack City train station and heroin express in NSW, tennis star Pat Rafter is getting a taste of the underbelly of street kid junkie life. An hour earlier he'd sat through a litany of horrors related matter-of-fact by a kid who is just 12. Chris looks 10. He grins up at the famous one and lists his life's course: drugs, drink, sexual abuse. Rafter winces. He shoots a look across to Father Chris Riley and shakes his head. "I never realised how many children there were on the streets and how many actually relied on drugs," Rafter said. "YOTS (Riley's Youth-Off-the-Streets program) needs a lot of support and I'll help them in any way possible." He admits his own sheltered life had hidden the horrors of drug abuse from his eyes.
"We just can't let this go on."
The wholesome champ and his big sister Louise are right now finding out just how bleak it all is at the coalface – sitting down with the YOTS homeless, drug-addicted youth at Ultimo, then mixing it with a horde out the parking lot basketball courts at Cabramatta.
Finding out, being involved, that's what the 24-year-old is doing. Already he has set up his own children's charity, Cherish The Children.
He and Louise, who will manage Cherish the Children, want to be part of turning young lives around – thus his decision to appear for YOTS in a fund-raising role.
"I want to help make a difference for the next generation," he says during the day's foray out on the mean streets.
"Coming from a big, loving, very, very supportive family you appreciate all of that grounding. Others clearly never have that chance. We've all just got to get in there and make things happen."
Right now in Smack City Pat Rafter is getting in there. Kids who are turning their lives around thanks to YOTS besiege their idol for autographs – on faces, backs, T-shirts, caps – then toss him a basketball jersey and clamour for him to be on their side.
"Mate, I'm not too good at this but I'll give it a go," Rafter grins as he ties his locks into his trademark pony tail.
The kids run rings around the novice basketballer – "soccer, tennis and swimming were my forte, guys, not this" – but he still manages an impressive white-man-jumping three baskets. "Phew, that's a real workout," he says between games, sweat pouring off the honed body. "These kids are fast!"
"Where's your bodyguard?" a kid seriously asks.
Rafter looks a mite startled: "I don't have one. What do I need a bodyguard for? You guys are okay, aren't you."
One grins: "We are now. But some aren't."
Fr Riley, the maverick priest and guardian angel who's been in there fighting for the street kids for more than 10 years, knows that only too well.
Within his myriad programs for substance abuse – end-of-the-line farms, cattle drives, refuges and outreaches – he's able to provide safe havens for those thrown or gone off the rails.
He's fed up with the sprouting and knee-jerk reactions of politicians. "I can't believe these people like (Health Minister Andrew) Refshauge who go 'I can't believe this (the youth drug problems') is happening'. Where have they been?
"It's nothing new but there's no one in the political circle doing anything but sprouting hot air.
"Tell them to go to the Cross, the Wall, Central Station.
"We're losing kids. Kids are dying. He won't even speak to me or take calls."
It's a never-ending story and he's thrilled that a role model like Rafter has come on board – through the auspices of John Newcombe, a YOTS supporter.
"What a giving," says Fr Riley of Rafter's decision to become involved with YOTS. "This will mean a drug and alcohol program for the younger kids, those under 14, where the problem is just out of control. I hope to have it – eight live-ins – up and running within a month.
"The great thing with Pat is that he's a really important role model who can relate to the kids. He's making a pretty powerful statement."
Right on, says Rafter. He's just heard from 18-year-old Michael Dillon – four years with YOTS programs and life now on track who's about to join the cattle drive program now wending it's way through the countryside near Tamworth.
"Yeah? A cattle drive," Rafter says. "Hey, I wouldn't mind doing one of those. Maybe when I'm back home next time."
The kids' eyes shine. "Wow," says Michael, "wouldn't it be great to have him sitting round with us by the campfire. And I'd sure like to see him on a horse!"
END

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Why Pat Rafter's sister wants to save street kids 6th February 1999. The Daily Telegraph

Tennis star Patrick Rafter has joined the battle against teenage social problems - and last night saw first hand the plight of Sydney's inner city youth. His sister, LOUISE RAFTER, tells of the family ties which moulded his social conscience....
It's the peer pressure that makes you do it. I was 15 and at a party when I was offered my first cigarette. The older kids said: "You have to do it." But I just ended up coughing and panting.
There were 9 kids in our family and Mum and Dad have always said to us: "We trust you. Don't lie to us, we are always here for you."
So when those kind of temptations were put in front of us, we knew right from wrong - even though Mum and Dad knew we would be tempted to try things out.
The scary thing today, though, is that it has gine beyond cigarettes - it's heavy drugs kids are experimenting with, and they are getting hooked straight away.
I remember another party a few years ago with some friends from school. When Dad dropped me off he could see kids wandering in with bottles, so he said to me: "Just give me a call if you want to come home early."
Inside that party a lot of the kids were already drunk or stoned. Someone said: "There's some stuff over there" - although the ones who had tried it were so out of control. It didn't take long for me to decide that there wasn't much happening for me there so I left at 10:30pm.
It is now that Patrick and I realise how fortunate we were, growing up in a large family that made us appreciate the simple things in life. We got a lot of values from our parents. There was never a lot of money but Dad was always generous when the collection box came around in church on a Sunday.
It was the things like going camping and interacting as a family that were far more important than some of the things that I have to do now. Mum would spend almost a year preparing for the annual camping holiday, you can imagine it - she had one baby in her arms, one in her tummy and six kids running around her.
It was this upbringing - compared to that of some of the kids today - that made Patrick decide he wanted to give something back from the money he had made from tennis.
He gave some $350 000 of his winnings from the US Open in New York to the Starlight foundation to fund a leisure room for the terminally ill children at Brisbane Hospital.
Now he has a lot of interest in doing more to help others - setting up the Pat Rafter Cherish the Children Foundation - and wants to know precisely where the need is.
To that end Patrick asked me to go and see the work of Fr. Chris Reilly's acclaimed "Youth Off The Streets" on Tuesday. I met kids who had been sexually abused and others on drugs at one of the rehabilitation homes.
When Patrick arrived in Sydney that night, he said: "What did you see, what did you experience, what did you feel?" When I told him what I had learned about, his mouth just dropped. You could see his eyes bulging. He had no idea of what was going on but when I took him through it, he just said: "Oh my God." He said: "How lucky are we?"
I said to Patrick that, because of all the publicity going on about drugs, it was important for him to get involved. It would be good for kids to see high profile people prepared to make a stand and also for the kids to have a role model.
His response was typical Patrick. He said: "Let's kick this drugs issue in the guts."
Life doesn't have to be complicated, it can be simple. Mum and Dad were always saying to us, "Look out for each other."
When Patrick is away I do hospital visits for him. I take his posters along. I am not Pat, but I pull my long hair back so I look a little like him. When the kids see me they say, "You aren't Pat" but when I say, "Sorry, but here's a poster," their faces light up and they put the poster on their bed. Often they will then do a drawing for Pat and send it to him so they feel good because they are giving him something in return.
We keep a scrapbook of all their letters because Pat is hardly ever here. When he comes home he loves to look at all the things the kids have been doing, and without a doubt he is very touched.
I know that when he is settled he will look through the books and reflect on the impact he has had on these children. I think he will be looking forward to meeting the kids in the CBD and discovering first hand what they are experiencing.
He is going to play basketball with some of the kids - he wants to get involved and really interact with them.
Our next step will be to approach corporations, schools, and fundraising organisations who are looking to put their money somewhere. Patrick is going to support other organisations in the future.
This is just the beginning.
END

To try to gain a better understanding of the drug problem destroying a generation, Rafter will tour the streets of Kings Cross tonight with his older sister Louise, who will run the Patrick Rafter Cherish the Children Foundation.
The launch of the foundation follows a quiet history of charitable acts and donations from the dual US Open tennis champion.
After winning his first grand slam title in 1997 in New York, Rafter silently gave $500,000 from his $1.1 million winner's cheque to the Starlight Foundation to fund a leisure room for terminally ill children at the Royal Brisbane Hospital.
When the donation was leaked by a US newspaper last year, Rafter's elder brother and manager, Steve, said Patrick was interested in following leading Australian sports stars Greg Norman and Peter Brock in setting up his own charity.
Rafter, who lives in Bermuda to minimise tax and who has made $12 million in prizemoney alone, said there was too much money in sport and hoped setting up the charity would help lift its image.
The world No 4 said yesterday he was taught from an early age to be generous by his parents, who were quick to help those worse off as they struggled to support a family of nine kids.
"We got a lot of these values from mum and dad, especially my father who was big into giving," Rafter said. "We never had very much money growing up, but whenever we went to church on Sunday, Dad always put in quite a bit of money into the box and I thought: 'Wow, he hasn't got any and he is doing that'.
"There probably is too much money in sport but there are a lot of things that we can give back, money or time, to make people happy."
Rafter vowed his charity would benefit from a constant stream of donations from his bank balance, whether or not he was winning, and suggested other players like Mark Philippoussis might want to chip in.
Rafter said he welcomed Philippoussis back into the Davis Cup fold and looked forward to playing with "Scud", rather than against him, at the next tie against Zimbabwe in April.
END

MELBOURNE, Dec 1 AAP - Pat Rafter today confessed to throwing racquets across tennis courts at the tender age of five. "I would come off kicking and screaming and throwing my racquet - I was a very good thrower of racquets," he said at a fund-raising lunch for his family charity, the Cherish the Children Foundation.
"I guess it was just my immature way of showing how competitive I was at such a young age.
"The sense of competitiveness stemmed from being one of nine children growing up in Mt Isa in north-west Queensland.
And while the former world number one's racquet-throwing ways are still a part of his on-court repertoire, his compassion for others was warmly applauded at today's lunch.
Two years ago Rafter gave half of his US Open prize money to the Queensland children's charity the Starlight Foundation.
Soon afterwards, he took up a suggestion to establish his own children's charity, funded by donations and his own tennis winnings and run by his sister Louise and mother Jocelyn.
Rafter made his first public speaking venture for the charity today, admitting to a few nerves.
"I visualised this incredible speech that only lasted for one or two minutes, but it was great - everything flowed on ... and everyone stood up and cheered," he said.
"The visualisation that I do sub-consciously in a way comes back to the tennis.
"Each night before I go to sleep I try to visualise the successful moment of my life or something ... I would really love to see happen."
Rafter said he also wrote down positive ideas each night - how he would win, be strong, work hard.
But the positive thinking has not always been with him.
He confessed to an early career crisis when he failed to qualify for a tournament in Japan in 1992.
Later, his sense of fun took over.
"I remember coming home, after one or two trophies, and feeling pretty proud of myself ... going out the back, picking up the gun ... going down the back of the farm, lining up and shooting that little gold yellow tennis man doing a serve on me," he said.
His mother now has possession of the US Open trophy and won't let him have it.
Rafter, who had surgery for chronic soreness in his right shoulder in October, is still unsure whether he'll participate in the Australian Open in January.
"Each day feels different; some days I feel good; some days I don't feel so good," he said.
But he is not prepared to risk playing if his shoulder is not up to scratch.
"If I re-tear this thing or if there's more damage done it will probably put me out for the rest of my career," he said.
His fans, who thronged with cameras and autograph books, were keen for him to take any necessary measures to stay in the game.
One woman stood up with a message from her 92-year-old mother.
"She's a great fan," the daughter said.
"She wishes you a long and very happy life and she just doesn't want you to play until your shoulder's right," she said.
END