Today we began our annual AFL Community Camp in north Queensland.
Townsville is about 1200km by road from Brisbane, or a two-hour aeroplane flight, and is more well known as a rugby league town.
We arrived here early in the afternoon and the first thing you notice getting off the plane is the heat.
The humidity up here and places like Cairns really takes some getting used to.
It is more important than ever that we drink lots of water and sports drink in this kind of weather.
That is something that I can’t stress enough for you all to be aware of too. If you are not used to hot climates, and even if you are, make sure you drink plenty of water to keep your fluids up.
Even for you kids who live in the colder climates down south, whenever you are exercising make sure you drink plenty. You would be surprised about how much it can detract from your performance at any sport if you are not well hydrated.
As kids reading this column in Queensland would know, Townsville is home of the Crocodiles in the National Basketball League and the Cowboys in the National Rugby League.
Both those teams get fantastic support from the local people and from what we are told, we can look forward to a similarly warm welcome when we start getting around schools and in the community tomorrow.
There is a senior competition up here in Townsville in winter that has five or six teams, and the competition has been going for 40 or 50 years, so the game has always had some support.
I guess with a big army base here, there would be a lot of ‘southerners’ coming through who like to have a kick of the footy.
The thing I was interested to read the other day was that Townsville actually played Cairns in the 1880s at Australian Rules, before rugby union and then rugby league established itself in a big way in country Queensland.
The AFL is celebrating 150 years of Australian football this year, so I guess all these interesting little historical bits will come to light.
I’ll give you an update on how our camp has gone in next week’s column.
Until then, train hard and enjoy your footy (and drink lots).
- Jed
