Southport Sharks Players lent a hand to local junior club, Pacific Pines, this week.
Six Sharks Players ventured over to the Junior Club to take the 180 participants through training and assist them with their skills.
“It’s great for a club like Pac Pines, in its infancy, to have senior players come out and take training,” AFL development officer, Adam Dunning, said.
“This is a growing area in the northern corridor and we’re looking to build the club from the bottom, eventually include U16’s and hopefully have Juniors and Seniors here in the future.”
Gavin Dunn, President of Pac Pines J.F.C was welcoming of the visit.
“It’s great that our kids can have contact with the Senior (Sharks) Players and see that there is a pathway for them, and it’s great that we can start to connect with a club such as Southport.”
Dunn said it was a great chance for the juniors to familiarise themselves with NEAFL players.
“Our kids are very familiar with the AFL players but don’t know too much about the NEAFL yet, so this is a great project for us to be involved with.”
Southport Sharks NEAFL development manager, Brent Kelly said the visits were part of a wider club goal to develop players on and off the field.
“As a club we are working really hard to ensure that our players are not only the best footballers that they can be, but the best citizens they can be,” he said.
“This is an opportunity for our players to put back into a community that comes along and supports us on game day , making it possible for them (Sharks players) to experience the programmes and facilities that the club provides.”
The Southport Sharks players that gave up their time on their night off of training were; Mark Collison, Nick Crowley, Nick Burton, Haydn Kiel, Caleb Hay and Jake Keller.
“This is great fun, the kids really enjoyed it and so did I.” Burton said..
“All the kids had smiles on their faces, regardless of their skill levels, they’re just here to have fun and a kick of the footy.”
Southport Sharks have other Junior club visits planned for June and July.
