The club has joined forces with Williamstown Police to educate its newest recruits on the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
Williamstown development officer Adam Potter said it was a new club initiative aimed at having a positive impact in the wider community.
“We have covered drink driving scenario situations when they are out in the community, what the expectations are and what the dangers and the effects that alcohol has on the body,” Mr Potter said at a session held at Whitten Oval last Wednesday.
“We have had a session on drink driving, tonight (Wednesday) is the scenarios and what it does on the body and in the future we will have an educational session on respecting people in the community and consuming alcohol.”
With five years’ experience in the Victorian Football League, Mr Potter said this was the first time he had been involved in such a program.
Williamstown sergeant Peter Radford said the program would teach the players to be responsible for their actions.
“We are just trying to share a bit of knowledge with the Williamstown footy club boys … responsibilities and what to do if they get put in a compromising position with alcohol or drugs.
“This is the first time I have been associated with something like this.
“It’s a great idea. The boys can learn something and we can learn something as well from them. I think it’s a fantastic initiative by the Williamstown Football Club.”
Williamstown Football Club Reserves / Development Coach Adam Potter when quizzed how the Development Program was progressing and the impact it was having on his development group and also what was involved, he stated the following -
“As part of the development program 20 players have taken part in an educational program on the impacts of Alcohol. The program has covered drink driving, being out in the community and respecting people in the community, scenarios about making responsible choices when it comes to consuming alcohol. As a club we feel it is important that our players are making good choices when they are out in the community. We are hoping at the completion of this course our players can then pass on this message to other sporting clubs in the community about the impact alcohol can have on an individual and on the community.
The Development group have been fantastic in their willingness to participate and embrace the messages they have been receiving to date. They are training really hard and some players have already been rewarded with senior practice matches. The players have been really receptive to the individual goal setting sessions we have had and they have set expectations for themselves as a group for 2010. Throughout the year we will continue to have educational sessions on a range of different areas including CV writing, looking after your money and the history of the club. We will also have several key note speakers to develop our young players in the area of leadership.
Our young players who have also relocated to Melbourne have been involved in cooking classes to assist them with their transition of moving out and having to live by themselves. As young men this can be daunting as they have work or university commitments, along with their training. Having them involved in these classes assists them with making good choices with their diet and assists them with their cooking skills.
Todd Clark and I could not be happier with the approach of the young players at the moment and we are enjoying the challenge of implementing a Development Program. As I said the players have been very receptive and it is great to have the resources and opportunities to assist these young players not only with their football and the expectations of being a Williamstown player, but also other life skills relevant to each player’s life outside of footy.”
By Tim Doutré
23rd March 2010 11:05:57 AM
Star News Group - www.starnewsgroup.com.au
