The first of the Hawthorn Football Club’s HANZ-UP! clinics occurred during the split round, with players Shane Savage and Jarrod Kayler-Thomson joining HANZ-UP! Ambassador Trent Croad on a three day visit to New Zealand.
Beginning in Christchurch, the guys met up with AFL NZ representatives and assisted in a KiwiKick clinic with year 7 and 8 students at Christchurch Intermediate School.
Trent Croad in a kicking drill.
Two more schools were visited in Christchurch, however the focus was now on year 9 and 10 students, encouraging participation in the NZ Hawks Cup, a school-based AFL competition across the country.
The students were intrigued by the game, and were receptive to the skills taught to them by the players.
The second day saw the group visit three schools in Wellington, beginning at the historic Wellington College, which has over 1500 students and a very strong sports program. Upon talking to the headmaster, Roger Moses, it was discovered that Trent’s uncle had gone to school with Roger and he also knew of Trent’s grandfather, who was an All Black between 1946-1949.
Shane Savage, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson and Trent Croad talk footy.
A drive out to Hutt International Boys School (HIBS) just outside of Wellington was a great experience with the school’s sports fields located inside a horse racing track. The views were spectacular with mountains surrounding the fields. Trent Croad was overheard saying it was like something out of Lord of the Rings.
The students at HIBS had a high skill level for AFL and we discovered that the game had been studied in a component of sport studies.
The scenery at Tawa College was equally as breathtaking, and the students equally as enthusiastic about the game that we were there to promote.
On the third and final day, the group visited another three schools in Auckland.
Hawthorn's Shane Savage was born in Auckland, but his family moved to Melbourne when he was 2 years old, so he was especially excited to be there.
The schools visited in Auckland had students who were quite serious about rugby (although this could be said about all the schools in NZ!) and were as big as Trent at age 15 (if not bigger!). The guys had a great time at these schools, getting involved in rugby scrums and trying to teach the kids how to take a ‘speccy’ (Croady almost got crushed).
Trent Croad having a speccy taken over him.
One of the boys asked Croady if he could have his NZ Hawks polo top, so in an old AFL tradition, the two swapped their guernseys. Trent will no doubt proudly wear his Under 15s rugby top around the Club at Hawthorn.
Something truly special happened at the final school, Wesley College, when Trent asked the captain of the team if they could do the Haka for the Aussies.
Obliging, 30 teenage boys performed their traditional dance for the visitors, whose hairs were standing up on the back of their necks!
The Haka as performed by the boys of Wesley College.
It’s great to see the level of participation and interest in AFL in New Zealand and the Club is excited to be able to bring ‘Aussie Rules’ to these kids.
Find out more about the HANZ-UP! Program.
