WITH the ever-growing popularity of Australian Rules comes the North Coast Academy of Sport and their inaugural AFL program.
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Players like 13-year-old Jack Mills have already participated at one of their trial days and development coordinator Scott Dalton is on the look out for more.
Mills has a background in tennis and running and rugby, but he stood out at the first trial day on October 9.
He set the pace in the fitness tests.
“I’ve always liked sport and recently wanted to give AFL a try,” he said.
“I knew I was fit and alright with the ball so I wanted to play a fun sport.”
The major aim of the program is to assist the individual development of each athlete so that they progress further in the sport.
There is an emphasis on providing greater skill development, strength and conditioning support, and physical preparation leading to the 2017 AFL North Coast competition.
As well as intensive training days and camps, squad members also receive an athlete education program which includes sports nutrition, sports physiology, sports psychology, and drug awareness.
Mills knowledge of the sport came about from watching the Sydney Swans on television with his parents.
Similar programs have already been run in Newcastle and Coffs Harbour and program head coach Scott Dalton said it was important Port Macquarie got involved.
The programs at those areas have been successful.
It is hoped they can incorporate players from Clarence Valley, Bellingen, Nambucca, Kempsey and Greater Taree into the program.
They wanted to give young players something to do over the summer where they would improve their skills and their fitness.
They hoped to attract new players like Mills to come and give the program a go. The Port Macquarie Magpies could be the main benefactors in coming years.
“AFL is a growing sport in this area,” he said.
“The academy approached the AFL about this time last year saying we wanted to run a program because they had them inland, but not on the coast.”
“Since then we’ve worked pretty closely with the inland guys to organise the inaugural AFL program for this region.”
Dalton said it was also open to girls 16 years and younger.
“We’d like to get about 25 kids, girls especially, with the new competition coming in next year,” he said.
“They’ll do a bunch of physical tests, beep tests, agility, and then some AFL-specific skills. It doesn’t matter if they’ve never played footy before; they can come down and give it a go.”
The second trial day will be held at Stuart Park in Port Macquarie from 4.30pm until 6pm on Thursday, October 27.
Athlete applications are accessible from the North Coast Academy of Sport homepage under the downloads banner.
For further information about the program search www.ncas.org.au.