QANTAS Kickstart Camp

South Australia was well represented by seven U15 Aboriginal footballers at the national QANTAS Kickstart Camp to Sydney in August.

The camp was hosted by retired AFL greats, Michael O’Loughlin and Chris Johnson.

The representatives were;
• Hassan Ahmat-Watkins – West Adelaide
• Zac Bates – West Adelaide
• Robbie Young – Port Adelaide
• Derek Collinson – Glenelg
• Malcolm Karpany – Woodville/West Torrens
• Jonathon Buzzacott-Ed – North Adelaide
• Josh Pitson – Norwood

50 participants from around Australia attended the camp that included high performance testing and leadership workshops.

The week concluded with a curtain raiser match on the SCG before the Sydney v Western Bulldogs match, which happened to be Barry Halls first game back in Sydney.

All boys were lucky enough to meet Brett Kirk, Adam Goodes and Paul Roos at a training session the day before their match.

From the Sydney camp, 25 boys were selected to form the Flying Boomerangs – the National U15 Aboriginal Football Team – that would tour Tonga in December.

Flying Boomerangs Tour of Tonga

After a very successful week in Sydney for the SA boys, 5 were selected into the Flying Boomerangs team to tour Tonga.

The five boys were;
• Hassan Ahmat-Watkins – West Adelaide
• Zac Bates – West Adelaide
• Derek Collinson – Glenelg
• Malcolm Karpany – Woodville/West Torrens
• Josh Pitson – Norwood

All flew out of Adelaide airport with the Flying Boomerangs coach, Andrew McLeod and after a stopover in Sydney, they moved onto Tonga.

The team played two matches against representative sides from the Oceania Championships. The first match was against the U16’s which they managed to win; the second was against the U18’s. The boys were much bigger and were unbelievably good.

Coach McLeod rated the SA boys amongst the best in the team. Although losing the second match, the SA boys were standouts, and not afraid to stand up against the bigger bodies.

Zac bates won the Most Valuable player award for the tour and Josh Pitson and Malcolm Karpany also finished high.

The team will now complete their commitments with a visit to Sydney to meet the AFL Indigenous All-stars and will then fly to Darwin to play a curtain raiser match to the All-stars v Richmond game.


Rio Tinto Footy Means Business

A new initiative of the AFL in 2010 was the introduction of the Riot Tinto Footy Means Business program.

Selected from all parts of Australia, fifty 18-23 year old men first converged on Melbourne in May where they undertook courses in leadership, professionalism, resume writing, job applications and presentation.

Amos Frank, Kieran Roberts, Adam Rigney, Dean Steele, Kieran Stone, Shannon Bendessi and Phillip Starri all represented SA.

The week in Melbourne included High Performance testing, trainings and a curtain raiser match to Dream Time at the ‘G’.

Players returned home with the knowledge that those who can work or study full or part time between May and October would get another chance to further develop their skills on and off-field with a follow up camp.

During October, the squad flew to Sydney and stayed at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern, a suburb enriched with Aboriginal culture and heritage.

Again, the week was about developing personal skills such as communication and professionalism in the hope that all men could gain employment upon their return home.

With some more high performance testing, training sessions and a match in Blacktown, the home of the AFL’s Greater Western Sydney Football Club, due to join the AFL in 2012.

The Rio Tinto Footy Means Business program is fantastic and we will be lucky enough to offer the opportunity to be involved to more Aboriginal men in 2011.