Fremantle will be visiting Albany on Wednesday 30 January and Thursday 31 January for the 2008 Telstra AFL Community Camp.
It will be the first time the club has visited the Great Southern Region following successful camps in Bunbury in 2003, Geraldton in 2004, the Pilbara Region in 2005, Peel Region in 2006 and the Wheatbelt Region in 2007.
The annual Community Camps are a great way for the club to visit regional areas of Western Australia to meet members, supporters and football fans of all ages in a unique opportunity to get up close with the Fremantle players as they finalise preparations for the coming season.
The Telstra AFL Community Camp also provides a unique opportunity for grassroots participants of Australian Rules football, including players, umpires, coaches and administrators, to learn from the game’s best by getting a rare insight into what is needed to compete at the highest level.
This year’s Telstra AFL Community Camp will also coincide with the club’s exhibition game in South Africa against Carlton. A 25 strong playing squad will travel to Johannesburg from 27 January to 5 February where, in addition to taking on the Blues at Super Sport Park, they will also undertake a range of community activities in Potchefstroom in the North West Province in the lead-up to the game.
The remaining players, including Matthew Pavlich, Josh Carr, Dean Solomon, Luke McPharlin, Heath Black and Shaun McManus, will travel to Albany for this year’s two-day Telstra AFL Community Camp.
On arrival in Albany on Wednesday 30 January, they will gear themselves up for an action-packed afternoon that kicks off with a community football clinic for 5-12 year olds at Railways Oval between 2.00pm and 4.00pm that will include a community barbecue for everyone in attendance, with all proceeds raised going to support the Southern Districts Junior Football Association.
The community clinic will be followed by a training session at Collingwood Park, the venue for Albany’s NAB Challenge match to be played in late February. The players will be joined in their training session by selected local players who will have the unique opportunity of training with Fremantle’s stars. Everyone is welcome to come along and watch the training session.
The players and football staff will then attend a ticket-only dinner and panel show at the Albany Golf Course from 6:30pm. The panel will include Fremantle’s General Manager Football Operations Robert Shaw, Skills Coach Michael Prior, Club Captain Matthew Pavlich and Vice Captain Josh Carr.
Thursday will start with a breakfast for local football club administrators, followed by a range of community visits and at 4:00pm the players and coaches will put 40 selected players from the Great Southern Football Academy through their paces during a one hour skills session.
Captain Matthew Pavlich said the team was looking forward to visiting Albany for this year’s Telstra AFL Community Camp.
“Each year the camp is a great opportunity for the players to meet our members and supporters in regional areas of Western Australia.
“We have very passionate and loyal supporters and for lots of people in regional areas they do find it difficult to come to a game or to come to Fremantle Oval to watch us train so this is a great opportunity for them to get to meet us and for us to meet them.
“The club and the players are committed to supporting our community and the community camp is another great way that we can meet not only our members and supporters but also local football players and footy club administrators,” Matthew said.
