KickStart Championships set to launch

Coffs Harbour is set for five days of Australian football action when the 2014 KickStart Championships and Australia Post All Nations Cup begin on Friday April 11, with hundreds of players from across Australia and Oceania taking part.

The 2014 carnival will see all states and territories represented at the two national round-robin tournaments with the grand finals being held on Wednesday April 16.

Supported by the Coles AFL Indigenous Program, the KickStart Championships provides players with an opportunity to test themselves against the best emerging Indigenous players from around the country at Under 15 level.

The inaugural Australia Post All Nations Cup is a feature event of the year for the Australia Post AFL Multicultural program and all six teams competing feature players from multicultural backgrounds.

Former AFL players Anthony Koutoufides, Aaron Davey, David Rodan and Setanta O’hAilpin will attend the camp as coaches and selectors and AFL stars Michael O’Loughlin and Kevin Sheedy will join the players on Tuesday April 15 for a cultural and leadership session.

AFL Head of Diversity Jason Mifsud said the carnival aims to provide talent opportunities for players from diverse backgrounds, as well as develop the participants into confident young men and leaders in their communities.

“The inaugural Australia Post All Nations Cup and the KickStart Championships are key components of our diversity strategy and will drive significant outcomes for participants and communities.”

Goodlife Health Clubs is a supporting partner of the AFL Diversity Program and is offering a month’s free membership to each participant in the KickStart program and Australia Post All Nations Cup to encourage health and wellbeing and further develop the physical conditioning of the players.  

Details on National KickStart Championships:

Each team in the KickStart Championships has selected the best 25 Indigenous players from their state camps based on football ability, leadership qualities, school attendance and community involvement.

The Under 15 KickStart Championships structure has been developed to provide a supported talented player pathway that compliments the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships and exposes Indigenous coaches, doctors, physiotherapists and trainers to an elite AFL Program environment.

Twenty-five of the best performing players will be selected for the Indigenous Flying Boomerangs squad by former Melbourne star Aaron Davey.

This year players from the South Pacific region will take part in the KickStart Championships (PNG, NZ, Oceania) competing in their own round-robin tournament. A curtain raiser game to the grand final will be played between a combined South Pacific team against an Indigenous combined side.

Details on Australia Post All Nations Cup:

The Inaugural Australia Post All-Nations championships involves six states competing in a round-robin competition. To be eligible for the All Nations Cup Squad, players must have been born overseas and come from a non-english speaking background.

The All Nation Cup is a fantastic opportunity for players from Multicultural backgrounds  to fast track their football development through a highly enjoyable on and off field program.

The junior stars form the basis of selection for the Australian players in the World Team in the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships.