On Tuesday skipper Warren Tredrea, Paul Stewart, Nick Lower, Nathan Lonie, Justin Westhoff and Ryan Willits paid a visit to the Memorial Oval Primary School, which is just one of 21 schools the players will venture to during the club’s community camp to Whyalla.
The entire Port Adelaide playing squad sat a football exam in Adelaide last week, but nothing could prepare Tredrea and Stewart for the curly questions put to them by the school’s reception and year one students.
“I think we only answered one question about football, but I learned a lot about kangaroos and recycling,” Tredrea laughed.
Lower and Lonie were assigned the task of educating the year seven students on healthy lifestyle choices and they also managed to capture the group’s attention with gruesome injury stories.
Lower, a commercial law student, is no stranger to the classroom and said the visit brought back “good memories” of his own school days.
“It would be nice to be back in reception because those were some easy times in life,” he laughed.
“I was a pretty good kid and pretty shy. I stayed out of trouble; well that’s how I remember it anyway.”
Coach Mark Williams hails from a teaching background and often comes up with exercises, like last week’s exam, to foster learning at Alberton.
The exam was designed to test the players’ knowledge of set plays, structures and general game play.
“I think I did all right in the exam,” Lower said.
“Choco’s pretty big on creating a learning environment and treating Alberton like a bit of a school, I guess.
“The exam is a good way to make sure everyone is on the same page. Last year we got a score out of 100, so it will be interesting to see how everyone went this time.”
