These young men escaped restless boredom that led to chaos and crime

Nye was 15 years old when he stole a car with his mates.

They were not drunk or high — just bored.

Nye is from Wiluna, a small town on the edge of the Western Desert in WA, Mantjiljarra Country.

He describes it as sandy and rocky, orange and barren except for near the waterholes.

With a population of only a few hundred, it is the kind of remote, outback community where restless boredom can quickly sprout among teenagers.

Nye said car theft was something his mates, who were a lot older — mostly in their 20s and 30s — had done a few times before.

But it was Nye's first — and last — serious crime.

"I thought, 'Oh it's going to be a bad thing but I don't want to be the friend that, you know, stays out of the fun and makes them think I'm the weak link,'" he said.

For Nye's family, the crime crossed a line that he had been slowly edging towards with years of drinking and smoking.

"I had found comfort in the chaos, and I couldn't picture a better life for myself," he wrote in his ABC Takeover winning story.

Nye's mother and grandfather encouraged him to move to Burnie in north-west Tasmania, Pataway Country.

He arrived to a landscape of lush green pastures and a penguin-filled coastline. A place that could not have been more different from the home Nye knew on the edge of the desert.

"But then I just kept calling my mumma and she kept motivating me to keep going, stay on track."

Nye joined the local footy team, the Burnie Dockers, which helped him get into shape physically and mentally.

"Pushing through all the training, pushing through all the hard difficulties, and the weather, I reckon my teammates and my coach helped me on my way along," he said.

"That support and team, I never had back in WA.

"My footy crew, I need them more than anything now."

How community activities can curb youth crime

Youth crime researcher Natalie Gately said there were a number of reasons community-based youth activities such as football were effective in preventing youth crime.

They included exposing young people to positive role models, being occupied by a positive activity, and the sense of belonging, confidence and pride that brings, Dr Gately said.

"It also builds those community bonds and then they start giving back.

"They start coaching the younger kids or they start volunteering for the club and suddenly, their whole life has changed."

Dr Gately, a senior lecturer in criminology at Edith Cowan University in WA, has led research projects into young offenders, youth justice and public perceptions of youth crimes.

She said the increasing costs associated with sport and after-school activities were also a barrier.

"When you look at sports today, they're quite intensive for parents," Dr Gately said.

"You've got to volunteer, you've got to pay your fees, you've got to pay the insurance money, you've got to pay for the uniforms — so that's an automatic barrier.

"A lot of these kids don't have engaged parents."

Dr Gately said supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to take part in these kinds of activities required additional buy-in from community programs and members, both financially and in terms of volunteer hours.

"If you want to set up a local footy team that includes the naughty kids, sometimes you get some community pushback as well," she said.

"So it's about having the right people that can set it up and in a very positive manner where the community aren't going to get concerned about it."

From youth crime to mentor

Youth crime was a big part of Jayden Sheridan's life, growing up in the regional Victorian town of Seymour.

As a teenager, Jayden was involved with drugs, drug dealing and fights.

When he became a father at 17, Jayden decided to turn his life around.

Skateboarding was how he did it.

"When I did the whole 180, it was my son that gave me the power," he said. "Skateboarding was the thing that kept me entertained and not having to run around in the same circles."

Jayden said it could be tough breaking bad cycles of behaviour when you lived in a small, disadvantaged regional community, where social circles often overlapped and could become "a trap".

"Skateboarding became my best friend and helped me kind of connect back to the community in a different way," he said.

"That's why I love skateboarding 'cause you push your limits on what you can do and who you can be."

Building on his own life lesson, and determined to create a better community than the one he grew up in, Jayden went down to his local skate park with six skateboards.

It was the genesis of Gnarly Neighbours, a not-for-profit youth group formed in 2021 that provides free skateboarding lessons.

In the years since, Gnarly Neighbours has hosted thousands of workshops, reaching tens of thousands of young people across regional Victoria.

Jayden said the project had a positive impact on the youth culture in Seymour.

"Skateboarding's cool enough," he said.

"They don't need to be going and doing the drugs to be cool anymore.

Jayden is now working on a model that could be rolled out to communities around the country.

"You're instilling confidence, social inclusion … and we're encouraging safe risk-taking behaviour through skateboarding," he said.

Learning to lead change

While Jayden continues to work on scaling up Gnarly Neighbours and creating a blueprint for what successful community youth programs can look like, Nye will be watching — and learning.

The teenager said, when he graduated from high school, he wanted to train and mentor the younger kids too, but not in a skatepark — on a football field.

Nye caught a glimpse of what that future could look like when he returned home for the first time after his year away.

"After my first year in Burnie, I went to visit my mob," he said.

"I went for a walk to the shops and bumped into my old mates. We started yarning. They praised me up.

"They saw me playing footy on live TV and said I inspired them to turn their life around.

"So, for the next few weeks, I trained them every day.

Nye said he wanted to have a similar, positive impact on his younger nieces, nephews and cousins.

"When I returned to Burnie, I had even more determination," he said.

"I'm now learning from the Pataway mob, preparing to be a ranger so I can teach culture back home.

"I want to do for others what my grandfather did for me."

Click here to read article