101.9 The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick have launched a second edition of The Underdogs, an initiative by the station to create a team for kids excluded from sports due to bullying or health issues. Last time the team played an AFL curtain raiser at Marvel stadium, this time The Underdogs: The Basketball Edition will take the court at John Cain Arena during halftime at the Melbourne United vs. Sydney Kings game on Thursday, October 31.
After making the announcement a listener, Nicole from Burnside Park, called in to describe her son Jake’s struggles with relentless bullying at school. Fifi Box (main picture) was in tears when Nicole said the 12-year-old felt unable to leave the house due to the emotional toll it had taken on him.
You can listen below:
Nicole said: “My son Jake has had a year from hell, to be honest. I’m driving my other kids to school this morning and he’s at home; I couldn’t get him out of bed. He spent last night opening up to me and telling me how he’s struggling. But I’m at a loss, the amount of bullying in his year level is out of this world. Now, I have a kid who wants to give up everything he loves because no matter what he does he feels it’s just another thing to be picked on about. He’s an amazing kid, he loves basketball, but he has no one to play with.”
Fifi: “(crying) Nicole, that’s so upsetting. That really upset me. (pause) There is nothing worse than not being able to get your child out the door in the morning and you’ve got to keep functioning, you’ve got to go to work, you can’t sit there with them and make life better. He’s 12! 12 with the weight of the world on his shoulders; he should be running to school. He should be excited about it. Just to get your son out of bed, Nicole, we would love Jake to be one of our Underdogs! Do you think that’s something he’d like to do?”
Nicole: “That would give him something so exciting to look forward to. To top it off in the holidays we actually just had to put two of our dogs down; he’s had enough.”
Fifi: “Nicole, tell him he’s in our team. We want him. He can get out of bed tomorrow. We want him, please tell Jake that.”