Two Sydney Swans players visited schools in Kempsey and they believe the game has had huge growth in the region over the past four years.
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The 2012 Sydney Swans premiership winner, Alex Johnson, held a similar clinic in Kempsey four years ago and believes there is a substantial difference.
“The interest level of the students and knowledge surrounding AFL is definitely increasing,” Johnson explained.
“When I was here four years ago we asked the kids the basic question to raise their hands if they knew what AFL was and there was only a couple of hands risen.
“This time around almost every students hand was risen.”
Johnson credits the free clinics and attending schools in regional communities to the growth of the sport in a normally dominant rugby league area.
“It is always great to be able to spread the AFL word and get young kids involved in the great game.”
Johnson was joined by fellow Swans player and rookie Toby Pink.
Pink was drafted by the Swans in 2016 and will be searching for his debut game this season, while Johnson is recovering from his fifth knee operation.
The Eagles 2017 season for U11s, U13s and U15.5 teams start on Sunday 2nd April. Training will be on Wednesdays 4 – 5.30pm at South Kempsey Oval and will start late February.
All registration must be done online and the club will conduct registration days at several locations during February to allow the committee to assist parents and players to register.
This season the the AFL North Coast is introducing a youth girls competition for 13 to 17 year olds.
The league will have four teams in total from Kempsey, Coffs Harbour, Grafton and Port Macquarie with no prior experience necessary for players as qualified and experienced coaches will be on hand to teach the girls the finer points of playing the game.
The Macleay Valley Eagles are expected to have a strong side with 11 of their players representing the North Coast AFL Youth Girls team last year.
The side will include Kempsey’s Maleah Waters-Holten who was selected into the National Women’s U15’s Indigenous team, the Woomeras and Lewis Brown who represented NSW/ACT at the National Kickstart Champions in September 2016 alongside Waters-Holten.
Come and try days will be held by the club in February and March.
The Youth Girls season will start on Sunday April 30.
