While the majority of the team headed to Tasmania for the Club’s 2013 Australia Post Community Camp, a select group of Hawks headed to Katherine in the Northern Territory as part of the AFL Club Partnership Program.
Past player and Club recruiter, Gary Buckenara, led the group consisting of Hawks youngster Jordan Kelly, staff member Jacinta Alexander and Assistant Coach Brett Ratten on a series of visits in Katherine and surrounding communities.
The group arrived in Katherine on Wednesday 6 February, and headed straight to St Joseph’s Primary School. There, the group was introduced to students while enjoying lunch before heading into the heat to teach them AFL skills on the school oval.
Kelly and Ratten spoke to the students about making healthy choices when eating and following your dreams. The pair included lessons they’d learnt during their time in the AFL landscape.
Later that afternoon, the group met members of a female football team from Katherine High School at the Showgrounds who participate in the Stronger Smarter Sisters program. In its third year, the program helps Indigenous girls to attend school, finish year 12 and learn the skills they need to get into the workforce.
Day two was action packed as the group headed back to the Katherine Showgrounds for a three hour super clinic with five of the local primary schools. The clinic included a range of different AFL skills, and was led by Kelly and Ratten with the help of Buckenara.
At the conclusion of the clinic, a group from the Healthy Eating Program cooked a BBQ lunch for the participants, as Buckenara, Ratten and Kelly conducted a Q&A, fielding questions on a range of topics from life in the AFL to the importance of education.
The group was briefed back at the high school on the importance of the program, which, in its third year has been successful in keeping Indigenous girls in school, playing sport and providing them with a stable environment to learn in and access before and after school.
The last activity for the day was to attend a Big River Hawks training session. An Affiliate club of Hawthorn, the Big River Hawks are a local under 18’s team who have players come far and wide to play together.
Coinciding with the trip, the playing season for the Big River Hawks is coming to a close in the coming weeks, so their coach took the opportunity to use the skills and knowledge of Ratten, Buckenara and Kelly and pass it on to their players.
Kelly joined in the training session while Ratten use his coaching knowledge to set up drills and gave the players feedback and tips to improve their game. The players were excited to have the Hawthorn group at their session and not only that, have them actively participate and pass on their wealth of knowledge of the game of AFL.
On the final day, the group visited the Clontarf Academy at the Katherine High School – beginning with a tour of the Clontarf classroom, which was motivating and inspiring because of the life messages, photos displayed on the walls. The academy aims to educate the boys on the importance of education, and does this by creating a ‘team of the month’ board which was based on attendance and had 18 of the boys pictures placed on a football field.
A little Hawks fan at St Joseph’s Primary School brought her Hawks towel to be signed by the group.
Brett Ratten speaks to Clontarf Academy students during the visit.
Hawks youngster Jordan Kelly with girls from Stronger Smarter Sisters.
