Term Two kicked off with several AFL Sport Education Programs organised for the Sunshine Coast’s Matthew Flinders Anglican College.
A large number of the girls come from a Netball background, and they were keen to try their hand at AFL.
They all successfully managed to transfer their Netball skill-set to AFL , learning the various techniques, styles and skills associated with AFL including; handballing, kicking, rucking and even umpiring.
Matthew Flinders HPE teacher, Ben Stanley is a renowned AFL coach in the region and in conjunction with fellow HPE teacher, Scott Kennedy with his endless knowledge and skill set proved to be a dynamic duo when facilitating the AFL Sport Education Program.
With minimal assistance from the Sunshine Coast Development Coordinator, Rohan Briggs, the seasoned coaching experience of Ben and enthusiasm from Scott, ensured the smooth running and organisation of playing an AFL game.
The students negotiated three fair and even teams to facilitate the requirements of an AFL match, two teams playing and the third as a duty team.
The duty team were responsible for many aspects of the game including; goal, field and boundary umpiring as well as time keeping, scoring, commentating, organising and coaching.
After the first lesson, it was evident to the students that umpiring requires a unique skill set of commanding the play, ensuring player safety and explanation of the rulings.
It was also evident that being the duty team was a demanding task as commentating, time keeping, scoring and organising players can be tricky on top of managing an entire AFL match day.
Coaching was another role of the duty team and is an important factor when it came to game play, team management and evidently trying to overcome the opposition.
Several students found out how important coaching was when they tried to manage their teams, provide direction and incorporate strategies.
With guidance from Ben Stanley, all coaches got the hang of coaching their teams, along with developing confidence needed to be a coach.
Upon conclusion of the 10 lesson program all of the students were showing real talent and had adopted several skills that they had learnt into their lunch time activities and club netball games.
Overall, the AFL Sunshine Coast Staff and Matthew Flinders teachers were impressed with how the students managed to organise, set up and manage their very own AFL games during the lunch hour.
