Mr. Reid as he is known at Wondai State School never grew up playing Australian Rules, it wasn’t until his late teens very late teens he was first introduced to our great game. Studying at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba Will decided to give Aussie Rules a go as he was pestered by mates to get down for a kick.
From here Will made his senior debut as a defender for the USQ Cougars in the AFL Darling Downs ‘A’ Grade competition. Will admits he was never a star of the game but definitely enjoys the mateship that comes with playing Australian Rules.
“A couple of mates from University kept pestering me to get down to the Uni’s AFL club and I thought why not, so I gave it a go and loved it, “Reid explained.
Upon completing his studies at the University of Southern Queensland at the end of 2011, Will was posted two hours and thirty minutes north of Toowoomba to a small Prep to Year 10 school; Wondai State School. Will was appointed as the Health and Physical Education teacher but had to give up his footy career as the local Aussie Rules club had shut their doors in 2007.
Will made it his mission and after contacting local Development staff he made it his campaign to bring back Australian Rules to the South Burnett. This was always going to be a tough mission considering the strong backing of other football codes in the area.
Reidy as he is better known as put his hand up to coordinate and run the ever popular NAB AFL Auskick program with the guidance of local Development Coordinator Jeff Neumann.
“He contacted myself and was inquiring about running Auskick and how he could go about it, after up skilling and such, Will was ready to run his own centre,” AFLDD Development Coordinator Jeff Neumann explained.
Neumann also added, “He already had his level 1 coaching accreditation, so it was just to make sure he had his head around the NAB AFL Auskick program and been a HPE teacher he was ready to go.”
Will loved running the program so much he wanted more and put his hand up to drum up interest to kick start a footy club within the South Burnett. After sourcing around and advertising for help, Will along with AFLQ –DD were able to find interested people from the Taabinga based Auskick centre. In just a short few months the South Burnett Saints were officially established.
Will made it his mission to make sure the club was in good hands for the future and started recruiting by asking AFLQDD staff if he could run the Auskick program in Term 1 (2013) at Lyle Vidler Oval (home of the Saints) so he could, along with other Saints members start building their way towards a healthy player list.
From here Will was able to build enough interest so that the Saints now field teams in the AFL Darling Downs Juniors competition in the Under 8’s, 10’s and 12’s, this due to Will’s commitment to run the Auskick program himself.
The Saints also field teams in the Under 14 and men’s ‘A’ Grade competition.
Will didn’t stop there, he wanted to keep building and make sure the Saints keep marching! Will has again put his hand up to run the NAB AFL Auskick program at Wondai State School which boasts over 40 participants, this is 33% of the school’s student count.
Now known as Mr. Auskick during HPE lessons, Will be a hot favourite in both the AFL Darling Downs Junior Volunteer of the Year Award and also the NAB AFL Auskick Volunteer/Coordinator of the Year.
Will is one of many dedicated volunteers not only across the region but across the country, he might be South Burnett Saint on the footy field but he is the Auskicks very own Saint!
Last Modified on 30/05/2013 16:00
