Eyre Peninsula Livestock & Real Estate Academy – Session 2 – Kimba
By Robbie Neill
Norwood Talent Manager
The Eyre Peninsula Livestock & Real Estate Academy summer road show continued over the weekend with the second academy session held at the Kimba Districts Tigers Football Club on Sunday December 11.
Norwood U16 Coach, Scott Irrgang, and U16 Assistant Coach, Ben Mesisca, joined myself for the drive over to the Eyre Peninsula town to conduct the session for 25 players between the ages of 15-18 years. Port Adelaide Director of Academies, Shaun Hart, and Power Academy Coach, Mark Clayton, also attended to present to the players the Next Generation Academy strategy (NGA) and its links to the Norwood Football Club program.
Through the NGA, Norwood, South Adelaide, Woodville-West Torrens and West Adelaide will be linked to the Power to provide further high performance opportunities to indigenous and multicultural players within our respective development programs. Furthermore, there will be opportunities for our most talented underage players from within our squads to test and train at various stages of the season at the Power’s Alberton Headquarters.
As Shaun and Mark highlighted in their thoroughly informative presentation, the NGA program does not replace the program of the SANFL club – it simply adds greater value and scope for the players to be exposed to high performance training and assessment. The parents of the players were as captivated by the presentation as the players themselves!
The number of Eyre Peninsula players now attending pre-season training with Norwood’s U16s, U18s or seniors has grown significantly in the last 12 months, which is indicative of the ambitious attitude of both the players and their supportive parents.
There is a tidal wave of Eyre Peninsula talent on the horizon keen to emulate the deeds of Luke Partington and Alex Villis, with Nick Pedro, Tom and Lochie Charlton and Cole Gerloff completing senior pre-season for the first time.
SANFL Development Coordinator for the Eyre Peninsula, Andrew Taheny, has completed a power of work for Norwood in making our academy sessions possible at various regions around the Eyre Peninsula. The leagues and clubs that have supported our visits have been fantastic – by the way, if anyone gets the opportunity to visit the Kimba Districts Football Club rooms in the future, they will be highly impressed!
We have also had terrific support from trainers Roy Milligan and Kerry-Anne Casanova, who give up their precious time to look after the aches and pains of the players. As a coach and administrator, these people are priceless to a development program.
Norwood will travel to Streaky Bay in January to conduct Session 3, finishing off in Tumby Bay, the home of former Norwood spearhead Chris “Tractor” Prime and 2015 AFL draftee, Luke Partington, in February.
Last Modified on 14/12/2016 16:41