Canberra’s multicultural community got a taste of Aussie Rules over the past six weeks, with more than 30 children from diverse backgrounds taking part in an AFL run program.
by Sarah Browne
Finishing up with a full day of activities today at Cook Oval, the program has been running for the past six weeks on Saturday mornings to the delight of the kids involved.
The children have been learning basic kicking, handballing and tackling skills, while also joining in on small games.
The majority of the kids in attendance are originally from South Sudan and Ethiopia, and new to Australia and to the game of AFL.
Vieli Choka, a Community worker at Companion House, said it was programs such as these that they loved to get the children involved in.
Companion House is a non-profit community based organisation that works with people who have sought refuge in Australia from persecution, torture and war related trauma. They work with people who are newly arrived and longer term settlers.
“Most of these kids had never heard of AFL before they started this program,” Vieli said.
“Now they are asking which club they can join and when they can play”
“The fitness and skills required really fit the abilities and energy of these kids. They just love to run around and stay active”
Today’s Holiday program was run by AFL NSW/ACT Development Officers Jessica Innes and Liam Griffiths, who had no trouble keeping the groups of children engaged and active.
Jessica called the lunchtime break to the dismay of the kids, who used the 20 minutes to quickly eat an apple and sausage, and then straight back to the ‘tackle tommy’ bag or practising kicking the sherrin into fields of empty space, only to have to run and retrieve it every time.
Choka said all the participants were really keen to keep playing and hope that the AFL continues to run programs such as these to keep them involved in the game.
“In just six weeks, these kids have developed a real passion for AFL"
“Unfortunately paying club registrations fee’s and buying boots is a real struggle for these families, so it is great that they had this opportunity to kick the football around and learn the different skills”
Last Modified on 02/10/2014 14:31