Fremantle will welcome its 16 ‘Live the Dream’ participants for 2008 this Wednesday 25 June when the exciting and innovative six day programme, which is proudly supported by BHP Billiton Iron Ore, gets underway.

The ‘Live the Dream’ programme is an in-house programme for 16 or 17 year olds running from 25-30 June. Thanks to the support of the club’s loyal sponsor, BHP Billiton Iron Ore, the cost of this unique experience for the lucky participants is absolutely free and includes meals, accommodation, apparel for the six day programme and travel costs to and from Perth for participants travelling from regional areas.

Following on from its successful debut year in 2007 the ‘Live the Dream’ initiative offers participants the unique opportunity to develop skills and behaviours that can deliver long term benefits to themselves and their local communities, while also having the chance to immerse themselves in the culture of the Fremantle Football Club and live the life of an AFL player for six days.

‘Live The Dream’ is designed to develop teamwork and leadership skills, develop problem solving skills under pressure, provide participants with experiences that take them outside of their comfort zone and develop skills that participants can take back to their local community and pass onto their peers (ie act as positive role models).

The intensive six day programme will see each participant appointed a mentor from the Fremantle player group who will guide and assist them in a series of exercises and activities. The ‘Live the Dream’ participants will also take part in specialised physical conditioning and injury prevention sessions with Fremantle sports science staff, interactive sessions on nutrition, media training, player welfare and player recruitment, senior team match day involvement and post game recovery session, a training session with Fremantle Football Club coaching staff and leadership and team building sessions with the Special Air Services (SAS) Regiment.

Fremantle Football Club Community Development Manager David Crute said the quality of the 16 young men who will ‘Live the Dream’ was exceptional. 

“We had a wide range of applications from young men with vastly different backgrounds,” Mr Crute said.

“The final 16 who will take part in the ‘Live the Dream’ programme are all potential leaders from within their communities and stand to gain a lot from their involvement in the programme, which they can then take with them back into their communities to hopefully become role models for their peers.

“One of the key goals for Fremantle is to provide an opportunity during ‘Live the Dream’ to develop the participants’ existing skills and behaviours by taking them out of their comfort zone.

“The Fremantle Football Club, in conjunction with BHP Biliton Iron Ore is thrilled to be able to offer this unique opportunity to the community again in 2008,” Mr Crute said.

The 16 lucky participants were selected from a large range of nominations by a panel consisting of Fremantle Football Club staff and BHP Billiton Iron Ore staff. Nominations were sought through BHP Billiton Iron Ore, the Fremantle Football Club Youth League, the City of Fremantle, a club aligned charity, Redkite or Heart Foundation; the Welcome to the AFL programme, or from Eastern States Partner Clubs of the Fremantle Football Club.

The 16 participants in the 2008 ‘Live The Dream’ programme are:

Zachary Wood of Innaloo
Raymond Turvey of Ballajurra
Curtis Williams of Burnie, Tasmania
Travis Hansen of Beckenham
Alex McFarlane of Donnybrook
Wade McEwan of Geraldton
Joshua Hamilton of Geraldton
Matt Gordon of Joondanna
Kirby Withers of Newman
Jeremy Regan of Newman
Regan Kubala of South Hedland
Tristan Joseph of South Hedland
Rodney Corpus of South Hedland
Frank Dershow of South Hedland
Kyle Edwards of South Hedland
Qayyum Bilton of South Hedland.

The Fremantle Football Club player mentors are Marcus Drum, Paul Duffield, Ryan Murphy, Chris Mayne, Antoni Grover, Michael Johnson, Roger Hayden and Des Headland. Paul Hasleby and Aaron Sandilands will act as ‘Live the Dream’ Ambassadors.

Mr Crute said the player mentors were looking forward to their role in the ‘Live the Dream’ with as much enthusiasm as the 16 participants.

“For some of the players it will be something very different for them,” Mr Crute said.

“Four of the player mentors for 2008 were mentors for the programme in 2007 but for Paul, Chris, Antoni and Des it will be their first experience as a senior mentor in this type of programme. They also stand to learn a lot themselves in their mentoring roles.

“The ‘Live the Dream’ programme is vastly different to the everyday kind of clinics they take part in as players. It’s something they can actually have a direct and real impact on with these kids so they have been really positive in preparing for their roles.”

You can follow the progress of the lucky participants each day on FTV and fremantlefc.com.au as they all ‘Live the Dream.’