On the 6^th August 2009, 200 international students from Monash University attended a super clinic run by the Oakleigh and Northcote SEDA AFL groups as well as some of Carlton’s players. The clinic was a great day and incorporated many aspects of AFL, what we need to do to keep our planet green and how we can help in reducing the effect of global warming.

The day was split into three main parts.

The first being a lecture on recycling and what we can do and what we can’t do. The lecture was run by Monash Universities Sustainability Officer Raqibul Hassan and was a very clear and unique approach to explain the little things we can do that can make a big difference. I personally took something away from this talk and now take the extra 4 seconds to check which bin I’m putting my rubbish in before I throw it away.

The second part of the day was a clinic in which the SEDA students and several Carlton players were involved. There were four groups set up around the ground including; handballing, goal kicking, kicking and ground skills. “AFL is like kicking a watermelon around” was a comparison an international student from the United States made after learning how to kick the Football.

The third stage was an introduction of a modified game in which students gradually stepped up to play. Many of the students who are only here for a couple of months made the comment that “had I have more time here (Australia) I would play locally”.

This day was a very special day as we were given the opportunity to give back to the International community and even though the clinic only went for an hour I feel we made a positive influence on the students time in Australia, and possibly made an impact that they might go home and show families and friends back home some of Australia’s sporting culture.

At the end of the clinic Carlton Football Club supplied all participants with caps and scarves. The Monash students were given tickets to the Carlton v Geelong game on the Friday night (08/08), with SEDA students attending also to help them around the MCG and explain rules. It was a great chance to introduce some more fans to our game.

By David Corbett.

Earlier this year, the Frankston AFL SDP group took a bus trip to the fire destroyed town of King Lake, which was one of the hardest hit towns in the Black Saturday disaster.

As a group we were very keen to take the opportunity to provide several primary schools in the local area with football clinics and to give them a fun filled day. We saw it as a chance to put something back into their community and help them out as much as we could.

The day started out with an hour and a half bus trip from Frankston up the mountain to King Lake. From here we visited 2 of the local primary schools that had been greatly affected by the bush fires. During our first visit we were accompanied by Robert Flower which was great for us and also all the kids involved. We performed basic skill drills that the kids loved, and all they wanted to do was get out there and have a kick and get their hands on the footy. It was good to be able to see the kids running around having fun as a result of the clinic we ran.

At the end of the clinic we presented a Melbourne Football Club jumper which was signed by our class for the school to remember the Frankston SEDA group. It was a fantastic day for everyone and a rewarding experience for us.

Ryan Moorhouse

AFL Victoria’s Sport Development classes came together to have the opportunity to meet and learn from the great Neville Nash, who umpired many AFL and VFL games in his time. Everyone thought he came across as a strong minded person, with high expectations of each individual.

Neville kicked the day off by introducing himself, then putting on some interesting DVD’s for everyone to watch, which gave us an extra insight into what happens on and off the field for professional and local umpires in league football. Each student received an umpiring bag which contained a whistle, cap, 2x wrist bands (for males), head band (for females), a drink bottle, and a DVD titled “The Ultimate Umpiring Guide”.

We then got our umpiring gear on and put theory into practice. We did many umpiring activities throughout the day where we had to make different decisions and signals such as “holding the man”, “dropping the ball”, paying a mark and indicating where the mark is, and so on. In a test to conclude our session, we had shots at goals, with people taking turns to goal umpire, seeing if we could all give the correct decision and signals.

Overall, everyone had a fun and enjoyable time, and everyone learnt a lot from the time spent with Neville.

Hayden Farrelly

The Director of SEDA, Rob Flower introduced Dean Bailey and Chris Connolly at the MCG before they spoke to us. He explained how lucky we were to have a professional AFL coach talk to us. He mentioned that “there are only 16 AFL coaches in the world and you guys are lucky to be able to have one of them giving up their time to talk to us”.

Dean Bailey was in a meeting to discuss what they can do about Melbourne’s loss to West Coast in Perth the day before. Chris Connolly spoke to the students for 10-15 minutes until Dean Bailey arrived. Chris Connolly, being an ex Fremantle Dockers coach was very entertaining making the students laugh with comments about the clubs theme songs and how he was always being told about Fremantle having “the worst theme song in the AFL”.

After Chris was finished, in came Dean Bailey, a former assistant coach at Port Adelaide and now head coach at the Melbourne Demons. He started talking about his team and how they train and what they do for preparation during the week leading into a game. He spoke about how they only do about “70 minutes of actual training a week” the rest being gym work and discussions regarding games plans and tactics.

After a very entertaining chat with Dean he gave the students and teachers time to ask him various questions such as “do you adopt tactics from other sports?” and so on. Overall, it was a very interesting and informative discussion.

By Daniel Perkins

On the 19^th of August the SEDA Students from Oakleigh Campus conducted a clinic at an all-girl’s school in Brighton, Star of the Sea. We took 1 year 8 class of 25 students. We kicked off the clinic at 11.45 and finished up at 1 o’clock.

Instead of splitting the students up into small groups, we decided to split the class in half. Each of the SEDA Students had a drill or activity to take. E.g. a SEDA Student took an activity called In- Zone. This worked really well, and all the Star of the Sea students enjoyed themselves and ‘had a go’ which was great to see.

We had different drills and activities for the students, including Evasion, In-zone, a handball drill/kicking drill, Ruck Contests and we ended the day with a Recreational Football game.

It was interesting to see how the students reacted to the session. Most of our sessions had been for primary aged children. To keep the students enthused we developed more games and competitive based activities. This seems to work well with older students.

The day went really well, everyone enjoyed themselves and learnt new skills. Most of the girls had never played football before, but every single one joined in and they were very well behaved, they listened when we were explaining a drill or activity and then they completed it well.

The SEDA students were very happy about how the day went.

By Mariah Marshall

On the 21st of July the Oakleigh AFL SDP students assisted in running the Oakleigh Primary School Athletics day. The school students were split up into their houses to compete against each other for the athletics trophy.

All Oakleigh AFL students were assigned an event. Justin and I were put into long jump, we didn’t have the assistance of another teacher but we still managed to get through the day without any disruptions. Jack and Michael worked really well in the 100m sprint, they were also without a teacher and I thought they worked really well and got through all the races in quick time.

We weren’t blessed with the greatest weather with rain consistently falling throughout the day. This didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits and we kept the kids entertained by having a kick to kick on the oval until it was safe enough to continue the events. When we got back into the events everything went smoothly for the rest of the day and all the kids enjoyed themselves.

Overall it was a great day for everyone and the SEDA students got a lot out of it. We could tell that the kids really appreciated having a few extra people there to help out and get through all the activities quicker than normal.

Throughout the year we have had a lot of contact with Oakleigh Primary School, running programs for each of grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. These students have responded very well to us and have been very appreciative of our assistance.

By Paul Tsoucalas

AFL Sports Development Program Report – June 2009

In its first year of operation, the AFL Sports Development Program has commenced extremely well with all students and staff now settled into their roles and working well. After a busy induction period, students have been involved in a number of exciting training initiatives and events to prepare them for work in the sport and recreation sector.

SEDA has a strong partnership with AFL Victoria and are working closely to deliver an outstanding program. Our five AFL groups have been involved in the following training with AFL Victoria in the first semester

• Induction to AFL Victoria and its programs
• Recreation Football Day at North Melbourne FC
• Clinic Management sessions
• Basic umpiring course
• Level 1 Coaching course
• First Aid course

Our students have been assisting the AFL with the following development work

• Auskick clinics
• Primary school clinics
• AFL Gala days
• AFL player appearances
• ‘Get your Kicks at the G’
• Multicultural events
• Disability events

In addition, students have been working with councils, disability groups, various sports associations, Universities and AFL Clubs to conduct a variety of activities for their clients.

The improvement in our student’s ability and knowledge of the curriculum in a relatively short space of time has been outstanding. Watching them develop their confidence to conduct coaching clinics for a variety of groups has been a highlight and the feedback we have received regarding their performance has been encouraging.

Highlights for the semester include:

• Dean Bailey talking to our students in May about his experiences as a coach and what’s required to make it at the elite level
• Our students visiting Kinglake to conduct AFL clinics for the local primary schools affected by the bushfires
• The smiles and enjoyment on the faces of children from a variety of ‘special schools’ where our students have been working
• Defeating Holmesglen TAFE in a ‘friendly’ game of football
• Our first of a series of inter-group sporting event – a Basketball tournament conducted at Oakleigh Recreation centre
• National Sports Museum & MCG tours

All our students have commenced their Structured Workplace Learning this term and will continue one day a week until the end of the year. This will provide students with a chance to develop a real life understanding of opportunities and work within the sport and recreation sector, as well as developing networks of their own for the future.

I look forward to working with all staff and students into next semester and beyond to assist all to achieve their goals.

Tony Kiers - AFLSDP Coordinator

On the 15^th of March I took part in the first Access All Abilities Program to be run at Monash Sport Caulfield, in partnership with the City of Glen Eria. Before I arrived at Monash on the chilly Saturday morning I was anxious about how the day would run and focussed on making sure the participants had a great day. 

I arrived and we began the task of setting up the equipment for the day with the assistance of Monash Sports Staff. The events that were planned were indoor soccer, badminton, volleyball, table tennis and basic free weights. My main roles throughout the day were to meet and greet participants, organise the events and answer questions regarding the day and the SEDA program.

The main thing I got out of the day was a greater understanding of the running of an event for a number of disdvantaged kids as well the organisation and preparation required for a successful sports day. I would highly recommend anyone to help out with disabled sports as it is an eye opening experience and was well worth it. Even though I was only there for 3 hours I learnt so much professionally and as a person.

Dave Corbett

On one very sunny Monday at the Frankston dolphins football club there was a group of young men who were thinking that teaching children what they thought were the basic skills of football would be a breeze. But oh how wrong they were, two very mature men arrived by the names of Trevor and Mark. These men arrived and said, “If you don’t know what you’re doing, they will eat you alive.” The young men laughed as they thought the mature men were joking. For the rest of the day these brave young men’s’ hearts were pumping with fear as they thought they weren’t going to be able to perform on their first clinic at a primary school.

During this day they learnt the basic skills and techniques on how to deliver a clinic to primary school children. They had learnt warm up games that were simple, yet effective, and drills that were easy to teach. For the next few weeks these young men had put into practice what they had learnt during training with their class mates. They were well prepared and organised a clinic at Derinya primary school. There were two days of clinics, on the first day there were two groups of 40 prep children. These kids were crazy but the SEDA boys from Frankston managed to coach them and had some fun, teaching and playing football with the youngies. The rest of the day ran smoothly.

The next day was shocking, we turned up at Derinya primary and it started raining so the boys had to improvise and find somewhere to teach the 80 screaming kids. So the brave young men enquired at the school office and found that there was a school gym which was available. So the boys thought ‘I think we will run our clinic indoors’. So they did, there were kids running everywhere and having an absolute ball learning skills, playing rob the nest and doing the chicken dance.

In the end, the clinic management session prepared the young men well and it turned out to be a breeze like they thought, thanks to Trevor and Mark.

We were treated like royalty as Justin and I arrived at the gates of St Paul’s primary school. Being swarmed by hundreds of 12 yr olds at the quadrangle pleading for high fives and handshakes, Justin and I now knew what it was like with the paparazzi on your tail. As we finally got through the staffroom with kids still knocking on the door like wild beasts, we got introduced to sports teacher Andrew Maher. He was intrigued with the course we were undertaking and said his son would be a perfect candidate for the course.

As Lunchtime was coming to an end we were shown the staffroom where Collingwood player Dane Swan was waiting, it was a great feeling to be chatting to Dane as he is an elite AFL player and many people strive to be where he is. We were then shown the park opposite the school where the clinic would be. In our way at the park was a gigantic swarm of children patting you on the back and looking for high fives. I was having the time of my life and got a taste of what it would be like if I was an AFL player. Dane and Lachlan Kiel (rookie for Collingwood) by the expressions of their faces felt like they’ve done this too many times and they weren’t enjoying the hype as much as Justin and I were. As we were getting to know each other we were kicking the balls at the bin seeing who could get it in first and we were playing kick to kick, I was visualising myself being an AFL player as I hit Dane Swan on the lead.

We decided that each of us would be taking a different station. Dane did goal kicking, Lachlan handballing and Justin and I marking and kicking. When the kids came to our station they were very attentive and did not say a word while we were speaking as they thought we were football players.

David Glass

Induction at the MCG was on February 9^th 2009, the day I started my sport and recreation certificate IV with SEDA (Sports Education & Development Australia).

I caught the train in to the MCG and who did I happen to see doing the same course as me, Neil Harper, so we caught it in together.

Neil and I then got off the train at Richmond Station and walked to the MCG, and were supposed to be meeting at gate 4 but everyone was sitting at gate 3 so we waited there.

Tony Kiers, the AFL Program Manger at SEDA then directed us to the meeting room inside the MCG.

We were then given information about the program including our teachers and venues.

Our teacher, Luke Collins then gave us our uniforms and bags and spoke to us about the activities we were going to be involved in over the first twoo weeks of the program. It sounded very interesting and everyone was looking forward to the challenge.

Afterwards we had lunch, a walk around the MCG and a group photo.

Overall, the day was pretty exciting day and a good way to begin our experience in the Sports Development program.

Dylan Mclean

Last week Luke took us to the Frankston lawn bowls club for a new experience with the game of lawn bowls. We got a good lesson and talking to by big Ed the bowls professional of 30 years. He taught us that one side of the bowl was heavier than the other and the aim was to have your bowl finish as close to the "Jack"as possible.

We got into pairs and decided to have a knockout tournament. I was luckily enough to be paired up with the bowls superstar Samuel Fox. We started off playing the dynamic duo of Jake Ross and Dan Leversha. Luckily for us they can’t perform on the big stage and Sam and I came from behind to take the victory convincingly. The next match we were playing against Justin “dud at sports” Taylor and Ben “the ginger spice” Ross. Luckily for us they too struggle to perform on the big stage despite their desperate attempts to beat us. Sam and myself were untouchable, we couldn’t be beaten.

We then advanced to the final against the inconsistent Neil “nary boy” Harper and Ryan “newbie” Moorhouse. We were a tad nervous at the start of this final match, until we saw what we were up against. Although they made it to the final the result was all one sided with Sam and I going up early with a 4 nil bowl to take the lead. However the other boys fought back to make a deciding round with a winner takes all result.

The team of Neil and Ryan crumbled and Sam and I came through with the goods and won the SEDA bowls tournament. GO TEAM OX.

On Tuesday the 12^th of May 2009 the Northcote and Montmorency AFL groups played tennis at Melbourne Park. We met at the start of the day in front of Rod Laver Arena.

We were then escorted out the back to many blue tennis courts and were provided balls and racquets by Tennis World. We then got into groups to play doubles tennis. As there are only four girls in the two combined groups we all stuck together and attempted to play tennis with “attempted” being the key word. Never the less we all had heaps of fun and I got slightly jealous of the boys on the court next to us that had great rallies going but we tried our best anyway.

We played for the better part of an hour. We were so lucky to have been able to play where the greats have practiced and played. It was an experience I will remember for years to come.

Jazmyn Gunn

In term 1 the AFL Victoria Northcote group were given the opportunity to go to the Indoor Cricket Centre in Thornbury. We spent our afternoon playing a variety of sports such as basketball, soccer, cricket, and beach volleyball.

The main attraction of the Indoor Cricket Centre was indeed the indoor soccer where we had an intensely fought round robin. As a group, we all cooperated and participated really well together and showed off our skills in a range of sports.

An enjoyable afternoon was had by all.

Anthony Marcanio

The AFL season may have ended last month but that didn’t stop the kids of Mt. Erin and Karingal from braving the wet conditions to play in SEDA’s first ever rec footy day! On Thursday October the 8^th the boys from SEDA Frankston were nice and early at the Frankston VFL ground to set up for the upcoming rec footy day everybody had their own jobs to do and by 9:30 we were all set up and ready to go. Unfortunately the weather was terrible rain almost horizontal which turned off a couple of schools so we only had the two schools, Mt Erin and Karingal. Mt Erin provided two teams and Karingal just the one. With 3 teams the draw was made and the opening match was Mt Erin A v Karingal. Mt Erin A won the match easily with Karingal struggling to hit targets in their forward line. Due to an odd amount of teams the team rostered off would play a scratch match against the SEDA boys. So now it was time for match two which was played between Karingal and Mt Erin B, Karingal needed a win to stay in contention. The match was similar to the previous game a very one-sided affair in favour of Karingal, smashing the younger team of Mt Erin B. Following that match was the decider of the day between the 2 Mt Erin teams, the first half was a surprise to everyone watching the b team who struggled against Karingal came out and kicked the first 4 goals of the match but the A team clawed their way back to trail by 2 points at half-time. Unfortunately for those watching the second half was a blow-out Mt Erin A showed that they were the A of the competition beating the B team in every aspect of the game which would seal the rec footy kit for the school of Mt Erin. After the boys had finished playing everyone got a free sausage and drink which was cooked by the SEDA boys. To cap off a good day Mt Erin was presented with their rec footy kit and medals were handed out for those who played well. Overall it was an excellent day I know I had great time along with all the kids participating.