After a successful week for Toara at the State Championships we headed to Vanuatu for a holiday and to visit family. The local AFL field is not far down the road from the resort we stayed at so we took both boys (Toara and Ericson who plays in the U11s) down to train with the local lads.
We met AFL Vanuatu Development Officers Blair Mortimer (ex Gold Coast) and Nancy, and also Malcom Thiel who is an AFL Multicultural Program Community Ambassador from Adelaide. They boys really enjoyed training and were both invited to play with teams on the weekend.
Ercison played with the Auskick Development teams. One of the obstacles faced by the Development officers is "island time". Unfortunately it is hard to know how many will show up for matches and what time they will show up! Only small numbers that week but fun was had by all regardless.
Another obstacle can be seen in the picture above- the local wildlife like to call the field their home so the ground is riddled with crab holes!! Apparently the AFL players manage to navigate the field and holes without twisting their ankles. Many of the boys also have to play in bare feet because they don’t have footy boots!
The senior match was between the Freshwota Dockers (who recruited Toara ) and Malapoa Kangaroos. Final score saw Dockers get up 12.12.84 over the Kangaroos 4.4.28. Half of the boys in the Kangaroos had never actually played before! After a slow start and with some guidance and coaching from Mal they improved out of sight during the match. They certainly have amazing natural athletic ability and given the opportunity and training, would have great AFL skills. Mal used Toara in several different positions on the field to help show the boys the role of the different positions on the field and the run of play. They were all very interested in Toara's footy achievements, appreciated his skills and leadership and really enjoyed learning as much as they could from him.
It is certainly a reminder of how fortunate we are in Oz to have such wonderful facilities and development pathways available to our players. Involvement in club footy and experiences in rep footy have certainly helped Toara to have the confidence, skills and leadership to be able to do what he did in Vanuatu. As well as being heaps of fun it was a great opportunity for Toara to share his love of the game with the local boys and was a wonderful experience to have before being involved in the Indigenous and Multicultural program next year, he might even meet up with some of his new mates from Vanuatu again!
- Naomi Marango
Last Modified on 24/09/2014 11:13