Oval two at Fishermans Road was the place to be on Saturday November 12 as the Sunshine Coast Netball girls tried their hand at AFL.
The netball girls have been doing some preseason work before the launch of their 2012 season and saw significant value in the girls participating in an AFL Clinic.
Hosted my Mark Kennedy and AFLQ staff the girls were split into four groups and rotated around four stations of intense AFL drills.
Station one was possibly the most gruelling with the deflection nets proving hard to read and judge when pelting the odd-shaped orange ball at them.
At this station the girls had to run through a course and score points based on targets hit and the number of circuits complete.
Throwing a spanner in the works was Alistair Baker at this station who won a few rotations but it is believed he may have been beaten on a couple of occasions.
Station two was tackling with the massive tackling bag and of course the famous ‘Buddy’ the tackle-man taking centre stage to challenge the girls.
Although hesitant at first the girls stepped up and put some big hits on and followed through with some spectacular goals.
The girls also had a tackle relay which saw the competitive nature of everyone shine through and encourage their team to convert the play.
Station three was kicking excellence with Dayne Frew and Chris Hunt with the girls being put through their paces and taught the fine skill of kicking.
The girls impressed demonstrating some excellent kicking skills and ability to follow instructions and execute kicking drills.
Station four was with Brad Nunn where the girls were taught the finer points of handballing without breaking or bruising any fingers.
From handballing drills the girls progressed into a handball game of netball which they adapted to quiet easily.
After a short break, team photo and some kicking finesse from Casey Cubis (she kicked a footy through the handball target, side on from 20 meters out) the girls hit the field for some game time.
Four teams were made and while two teams watched the other two battled it out on an almost full sized field using the skills they had learnt at the stations to adapt to the game.
All girls showed pace, skill and enthusiasm for our game and aside the heat kept striving to score for their team.
At the end of the afternoon there were plenty of smiles all round with AFLQ staff letting all of the girls know about our 2012 Youth Girls competition- maybe some recruits will surface.
Anyone interested in playing in the 2012 Youth Girls Competition on the Sunshine Coast in 2012 please email AFL Qld Sunshine Coast Juniors at aflsunct@bigpond.net.au or the Sunshine Coast Youth Girls facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/AFL-Sunshine-Coast-Youth-Girls/213116692085332
