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Female Football

Local stars to take on Australia’s best in National Championships

The upcoming School Sports Australia 15 Years and Under Girls and Boys National Championships will feature a strong contingent from the AFL Barwon region. Seven players from the AFL Barwon clubs will be participating in the carnival, which commences on Saturday, July 22nd in Ballarat.

Representing Victoria in the Girls Championships will be St. Joseph's utility Meyah Fursland and Peninsula Sharks goal kicker Ziva Shawcross. Both girls from Western Heights Secondary College, earned their spots in the final squad after going through two trial matches and impressing the selectors. Ziva, a key forward for the Sharks, has already kicked an impressive nine goals this season. Inspired by AFLW star Tayla Harris, she has modelled her game on Harris' style.

Meyah has admired key defenders like former Geelong Cats Champion Matthew Scarlett to base her game off. The girls will head to a training camp prior to carnival where they will meet their Victorian teammates from across the State.

In the Under 15 boy’s squad, three Ocean Grove juniors, Jack Thomson, Darcy Harrington, and Ned Badrock, have secured their spots in the final squad. Additionally, St. Joseph's midfielder Archer Chamberlain and Torquay's key position prospect Jack Pickett will also represent Victoria in the Championships.

Archer Chamberlain, excited to follow in the footsteps of AFL stars like Darcy Parish, Patrick Dangerfield and Travis Boak, expressed his gratitude for the mentors who have helped him develop his game over the past year. “We had some really good coaches at our St Joseph's year 9 campus, with Mr (Paul) Hood being a good coach to learn from”.  

Jack Pickett, a 189cm Ruckman was hopefully he would be able to have an impact forward in the carnival. “Hopefully I play in the forward line as I don’t think I am big enough to be a ruckman for Victoria” he joked. Torquay Senior coach Dom Gleeson had played a role in some mentoring sessions and sharing some advice according to Jack. He was hopefully to play consistent and as best as he could in the carnival.

The full squads for School Sports Australia 15 Years and Under Girls and Boys National Championships can be found here.

Author: Sean Atkinson

MEDIA RELEASE - AFL Barwon extends partnership with Epworth for 2023

Epworth Geelong will continue as a major partner of AFL Barwon and naming rights holder of Female Football in the region for 2023.

Epworth has been a proud partner and supporter of Female Football and the entire region since the beginning of the partnership in 2018, and both parties are excited to see this continue through 2023.

Epworth will retain naming rights to all divisions of Senior Female Football, as well as division 1 of all our competitive underage Female competitions. In addition to the previous years, the Epworth branding will be on all Senior Female, Under 19 Female and Under 16 match footballs, as well as the playing jumpers for these Competitions.

 

Epworth Geelong Executive General Manager Leonie Lloyd said,

“The team at Epworth Geelong is pleased to continue our support for AFL Barwon and female football in the Greater Geelong region in 2023.

At Epworth, we are proud to be supporting women in sport. It’s great to see the rapid growth of women’s football in the Geelong region, where young children are now growing up with as much excitement for female football as any other sport.”

 

AFL Barwon Commercial Partnerships & Communications Manager Sean Atkinson said,

“It is wonderful to have Epworth continue to partner with AFL Barwon in 2023. Epworth have been the Naming Rights Partner for our female football section since the introduction of Senior Female Football in 2018, so to have them continue is fantastic for our Region.

The brand connection between Epworth and Female sport in our region resonates well, and we are looking forward to continuing to grow and expand the partnership”.

 

Epworth Geelong is located on 1 Epworth Place, Waurn Ponds. For more, visit www.epworth.org.au.

New Female 'Player to Coach' Program to Launch with Series of Webinars

AFL Victoria and Coach AFL is launching a new three-part coaching series that aims to provide opportunities for women to easily transition from a playing capacity into a coach.

The new program aims to utilise resources and community connections to easily educate and develop female players and ensure that females continue to contribute and thrive within the football community.

Part one of the program commences with the first of two webinars on the 18th of October and will feature several esteemed panellists.

  • Host: Natalie Wood (Western Bulldogs AFLW Assistant Coach)
  • Host: Eliza Straford (AFL Victoria Participation Coordinator & Williamstown VFLW player)
  • Guest 1: Ellie Blackburn (Western Bulldogs AFLW)
  • Guest 2: Emma Grant (former Collingwood AFLW player and & Richmond AFLW development coach).

The panel will look deeply into the female ‘player to coach’ topic and make connections with themes during the session that assists players to commence coaching in the community.

Richmond AFLW development coach, Emma Grant will be a guest panellist for the webinar

Part 1

1. State webinar series to explain the purpose of the program and generate interest. Guest panels will deliver sessions to identified female candidates

  • Webinar 1: Monday October 18th, 7pm
  • Webinar 2: TBC (confirmed post session 1)

The program will continue with parts two and three in early 2022.

You can register for the program at the registration link here: https://form.jotform.com/212611505197047

For full details on the program and further information such as player and club incentives and coaching opportunities and recruiting tips, click here.

For any enquiries, please contact AFL Victoria Coaching Development and Education Lead, Ricky Coburn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

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