The past four days would have to be the best four days of my life. I have been a part of the MBF Highmarks program in Melbourne with the Hawthorn Football Club. Over the four days we met Shane Crawford, Nick Holland and Trent Croad just to name a few. This whole program for me has been a life changing experience and I'm sure for the other 11 boys including (Taylor Forward) who was the other participant from Tasmania.
The Hawthorn Boys treated us like we had been around for years but in fact had only been around for a few hours. It was great to be able to sit down and talk face to face with AFL players Nick Holland (who was my mentor), Spider Everett, Buddy Franklin, Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell. We were also lucky enough to be able to be a part of Alistair Clarkson's press conference. It was a great privilege to be a part of this as my ambition in life is to coach my senior side in the future, this gave me more understanding of what coaching is all about.
We also went to the hall of fame, This was really interesting as I found out what the game was like back in the 60's compared to modern day football.It has changed so much. There also is a lot more to the hall of fame than I realised. I thought it would be a wall of old photos and a football or two but there are different stages through to a lead up of an AFL grand final. Which gives you an insight of a player, which you don't normally see.
As you can see we were very busy throughout the four days and it was pretty full on. There was one more thing that we took part in and that was the tour of the MCG witch was unbelievable and to be able to go out on the ground was just tremendous. To be able to say that I have been out on the MCG is just such a great privilege to me.
Over all this program was great and I made new friends and this life changing experience will be with me for the rest of my life.
By Dion Benson
Last Modified on 12/07/2005 08:27