V Swans on hallowed turf

Pilbara V Swans Kicking Goals students recently had the opportunity of a lifetime, playing the curtain-raiser for the West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Lions at Domain Stadium.

After a short few days braving the cold in Melbourne and touring the MCG, the Hedland Senior High School students met up with Newman Senior High School students in Perth to get involved in some metropolitan football.

Their Perth experience began with an opportunity to sit in a WAFL presidents lunch at the Swan Districts Football Club and meet former cricketer Kim Hughes and watch Swan Districts take on Peel Thunder.

After their meet and greet of the local WA heroes came the highlight of the trip as the students combined forces at curtain-raiser in front of a crowd of 32,000.

Despite coming second against Kiara College, students got to watch the Brisbane Lions take on the West Coast Eagles, then bumping into Lions players during their post-match dinner.

Newman V Swans active education development manager Paul Pitchers said the aim of the trip was to reward the students for good behaviour within the school and community.

“We just couldn’t be prouder of the students who went, they set great examples in front of the WAFL and AFL representatives and just generally displayed some great behaviour on the trip,” he said.

“These sort of trips wouldn’t be possible without the support of our community. Both the Hedland and Newman students have been fundraising in order to make the trip affordable as well as working with our principal partner BHP.”

The students chosen for the trip were those who had shown good behaviour in school, kept up attendance and taken part in community support through the V Swans Kick It program in Newman and AusKick program in Hedland.

Hedland student James Morgan said the felt fortunate to be able to have such unique experiences, thanks to the Kicking Goals program. “Something I’ll be taking back from this trip is how lucky I am to be apart of this program and how it has shaped me as a person,” he said.

Mr Pitchers said for some of the students the trip was the first time they had seen an AFL game in person and others their first time out of WA.

V Swans is the education and community development arm of the Swans District Football Club.