Official Magazine of Fremantle Football Club fremantlefc.com.au

Community Camp
Purple haze hits Peel
F
remantle’s gruelling pre-season training
programme received a welcome change in
February when the team ventured to the
Peel Region for the AFL Community Camp. Every
year the team looks forward to meeting its members
and supporters throughout regional WA and this
year the club was delighted to be visiting one of the
fastest growing communities in Western Australia.
Over the past three years Fremantle has visited
Bunbury, Geraldton, and the Pilbara in 2005 and
this year’s visit to the Peel region gave the players
an opportunity to visit a real Fremantle stronghold.
An early morning weights session at Fremantle
Oval on the Monday kick started four days of
activities for the players before the group travelled
by bus to their home base in Mandurah.
On arrival the team broke into smaller groups
and headed out to schools in Pinjarra, Harvey,
Dwellingup, Boddington and Waroona. Both
primary and secondary students enthusiastically
welcomed Fremantle’s players into their classrooms
and had plenty of questions for their football heroes.
In Harvey, Paul Hasleby, Jarrad Schofield,
Aaron Sandilands, Robbie Haddrill and Brett Peake
formed part of a 13 strong group that dropped
in on several schools including the WA College
of Agriculture before taking part in the Harvey
Community Fair.
After the school visits in Waroona a group of ten
players including Byron Schammer, Des Headland
and Justin Longmuir lent a hand at the Auskick
registration day where kids signed up to take part in
the great junior footy competition.
Later that afternoon the majority of playing
group travelled south of Bunbury to the community
of Dalyellup where a NAB AFL Auskick
superclinic was conducted to launch a partnership
between Fremantle and the first local junior football
club, the Dalyellup Dockers.
Converging on the Ocean Forrest Lutheran
College more than one hundred children joined
in the footy clinic and were excited to have a kick
with the likes of Jeff Farmer, Troy Cook and Luke
McPharlin. Senior Coach Chris Connolly and
Captain Peter Bell then presented the newly formed
Dalyellup Junior Football Club with a brand new
set of playing jumpers which feature Fremantle’s
famous white anchor on the front.
The successful day was rounded out with a
Civic Reception where the team was welcomed to
the Peel Region by Mayor Paddi Creevey.
Day two saw the team visit primary schools in
the Mandurah and conduct clinics for the students
before the local children had the opportunity to
meet the stars during a Community Day at Rushton
Park in the afternoon with more than 600 children
participating. Tuesday evening concluded with
a full pre-season training session on Rushton
Park and the players put on a sharp display for
the big crowd.
Day three saw the team host a youth leadership
breakfast and visit secondary schools in Mandurah
before being an afternoon training session and
a well earned rest.
The final day of the camp saw a fantastic turnout
for the Auskick superclinic at Secret Harbour
Primary School which capped off a huge week
for the club. Hailed as the largest Auskick clinic
in Australia held during the 2006 camps, more
than 1,600 school children from Secret Harbour
Primary, Singleton Primary School and Comet Bay
Secondary School flocked to the oval in a morning
of fun and excitement.
“Throughout the camp we visited over 30 schools
which is a huge undertaking, allowing us to meet
over 10,000 kids within the region, so it was well
worth all the effort,” said Community Development
Manager David Crute.
fremantlefc.com.au April 2006 Docker 29