College girls in the zone

Eumemmerring College students Danielle Lawrence, left, and Chantelle Hawkins and head coach Brett Alexander are thrilled with the school’s Australian Rules football success.

By Marc McGowan
EUMEMMERRING College’s girls football team has become the latest success story of the Hallam school’s sports academy program.
Competing at last week’s regional competition at Casey Fields, the side won all four of its matches, including the decider against traditional powerhouse Kooweerup.
The grand final victory has qualified the squad for next month’s zone final.
Chantelle Hawkins, Danielle Lawrence and Alicia Heins – who play for Hallam Football Club in the Footy-Pak South East Youth Girls league – led the charge for Eumemmerring.
Sports academy director Ben McGee was delighted with the win.
“Kooweerup had never been beaten and we took it right up to them,” he said.
“We got off to a slow start and were trailing at half-time, but we were able to come over the top of them in the second half and now we’re through to the final eight (schools) in the state.”
McGee has already recruited AFL Victoria female football development manager Chyloe Kurdas to help the school prepare for the next stage of competition.
Eumemmerring’s male footballers travelled to Queensland on Sunday for their annual AFL exchange.
They attended the Melbourne-Brisbane clash at the Gabba on the same day before running an AusKick program with several local primary schools on Monday.
The trip peaked on Tuesday when Eumemmerring battled it out with Palm Beach Currumbin High School and had its sports academy dinner.
“It provides them with that elite pathway in sport, where they get to travel to play sport,” McGee said.
“Obviously flying interstate allows them to develop independence as well as going off and working in a foreign area.
“They’re not running clinics with Victorian kids; it’s a rugby dominated environment, which is a challenge for them.”
The experience leads into the school’s ground-breaking AusKick program at Eumemmerring Primary School, which begins next Monday.
“We’re the only school in the state that’s using its students, more or less, to implement an accredited AusKick program,” McGee said.
The eight-week program will be held each Monday for two hours from 1.30pm.
“It demonstrates what we have achieved in our partnership with AFL Victoria,” McGee said.
“The school is working ever so hard and the whole thing is about developing the community.”