onSceneTouchEvent cant access a method in another class

I've been following the tutorial for AndEngine from Matim where he creates a simple platformer game. And I'm having the hardest time trying to figure out how to get the onSceneTouchEvent to work properly.

    public boolean onSceneTouchEvent(Scene pScene, TouchEvent pSceneTouchEvent) 
{

    if(pSceneTouchEvent.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN)
    {
        player.setRunning();        
    }

return false;

}

I have public Player player; and in the area where I generate random platforms (The difference between the actual tutorial and my program.) I create a new player.

  private void generateLevel()
{
    Sprite platform, platform2, coin, player;
    final FixtureDef objectFixtureDef = PhysicsFactory.createFixtureDef(1, 0.5f, 0.5f);

    //Beginning platform will always be in the same place.
    platform = new Sprite(80, 900, resourceManager.platform_region, vbom);
    PhysicsFactory.createBoxBody(physicsWorld, platform, BodyType.StaticBody, objectFixtureDef);
    attachChild(platform);

    previousX = 80;
    previousY = 900;


    //Random level generation
    for(int x = 0; x <= 4; x++)
    {
        Random random = new Random();
        randX = random.nextInt(100) + 100;
        previousX += randX;
        randY = random.nextInt(150) + 100;
        previousY -= randY;
        randInt = random.nextInt(2) + 1;
        platform2 = new Sprite(previousX, previousY, resourceManager.platform_region, vbom);
        PhysicsFactory.createBoxBody(physicsWorld, platform, BodyType.StaticBody, objectFixtureDef);
        attachChild(platform2);

        if(randInt == 1)
        {
            coin = new Sprite(previousX + 60, previousY - 30, resourceManager.coin_region, vbom);
            PhysicsFactory.createBoxBody(physicsWorld, coin, BodyType.StaticBody, objectFixtureDef);
            attachChild(coin);
        }

    }


    player = new Player(170, 820, vbom, camera, physicsWorld)
    {


        @Override
        public void onDie()
        {

        }

    }; 

    attachChild(player);




}

The Player class is:

     public class Player extends AnimatedSprite
   {
    private Body body;

public boolean canRun = false;

public Player(float pX, float pY, VertexBufferObjectManager vbom, Camera camera, PhysicsWorld physicsWorld)
{
    super(pX, pY, ResourceManager.getInstance().player_region, vbom);
    createPhysics(camera, physicsWorld);
    camera.setChaseEntity(this);
}

public void onDie() {
}

private void createPhysics(final Camera camera, PhysicsWorld physicsWorld)
{
    body = PhysicsFactory.createBoxBody(physicsWorld, this, BodyType.DynamicBody, PhysicsFactory.createFixtureDef(0, 0, 0));
    body.setUserData("player");
    body.setFixedRotation(true);

    physicsWorld.registerPhysicsConnector(new PhysicsConnector(this, body, true, false)
    {
        @Override
        public void onUpdate(float pSecondsElapsed)
        {
            super.onUpdate(pSecondsElapsed);
            camera.onUpdate(0.1f);

            if(getY() <= 0)
            {
                onDie();
            }

            if(canRun)
            {
                body.setLinearVelocity(new Vector2(10, body.getLinearVelocity().y));
            }
        }
    });
}

public void setRunning()
{

    canRun = true;
    final long[] PLAYER_ANIMATE = new long[] { 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100 };
    animate(PLAYER_ANIMATE, 2, 6, true);

}

public void jump()
{
    body.setLinearVelocity(new Vector2(body.getLinearVelocity().x, 12));
}

Here's the LogCat log:

02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459): FATAL EXCEPTION: UpdateThread
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459): Process: com.gamedev, PID: 13459
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459): java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void com.gamedev.Player.setRunning()' on a null object reference
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at com.gamedev.GameScene.onSceneTouchEvent(GameScene.java:172)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.entity.scene.Scene.onSceneTouchEvent(Scene.java:388)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.engine.Engine.onTouchScene(Engine.java:452)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.engine.Engine.onTouchEvent(Engine.java:438)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.input.touch.controller.BaseTouchController$TouchEventRunnablePoolItem.run(BaseTouchController.java:102)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.util.adt.pool.RunnablePoolUpdateHandler.onHandlePoolItem(RunnablePoolUpdateHandler.java:54)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.util.adt.pool.RunnablePoolUpdateHandler.onHandlePoolItem(RunnablePoolUpdateHandler.java:1)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.util.adt.pool.PoolUpdateHandler.onUpdate(PoolUpdateHandler.java:88)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.input.touch.controller.BaseTouchController.onUpdate(BaseTouchController.java:62)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.engine.Engine.onUpdate(Engine.java:584)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.engine.LimitedFPSEngine.onUpdate(LimitedFPSEngine.java:56)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.engine.Engine.onTickUpdate(Engine.java:548)
02-23 17:04:28.104: E/AndroidRuntime(13459):    at org.andengine.engine.Engine$UpdateThread.run(Engine.java:820)

Sorry for the messy LogCat.

Anyway, I can't for the life of me figure it out and all my searching online has come up with nothing. So any help would be appreciated.