Wednesday
It was an early start this morning with everyone at the Club by 6:30 for the 7:00am training session. The bus was due to leave for Kyabram at 9:30am, Shane O’Sullivan was going to ensure we weren’t late, so we had to have a good training session before we left.
We changed it up a little with the players actually running the skills session on Visy Park. There were no coaches involved, but there was certainly no let up in what was a very solid session, I am sure the coaches were having a look at what was going on from inside the offices at Visy Park!
We didn’t have much time once we got off the track as the bus was waiting and we had a deadline to stick to. As a result of the early morning start and the solid session, the boys were all pretty quiet on the bus with sleep or resting using their iPhones the most popular way to pass the time. There was certainly less banter than usual on the bus, I guess an early morning training session will do that to you.
We arrived at the Kyabram Football Club to a fantastic spread of food for our lunch and had a rest on the balcony before the official welcome from representatives from the Shire of Campaspe. The one thing we can rely on with the Community Camps is the great food provided by the local communities and we were certainly not let down by the Kyabram people. Following the official welcome and response from Chris Judd, some players were ushered off for media commitments. It was great to see a number of local media at the event, as well as a few who had driven up from Melbourne to cover the camp.
After the luncheon and official function we were split into groups to visit schools, hospitals and community centres as well as Juddy, Simmo and Waitey going to the Kyabram Post Office. I was in a group with Marcus Davies, Patty McCarthy and Blakey Bray. We were driven to the Kyabram Secondary College to meet the students and chat to them about life as an AFL player. Everyone was pretty excited to see us and hear what we had to say although there weren’t too many Carlton supporters; hopefully by the time we left we had converted a few.
It is good to chat with the teenagers as it is not just about football but about what they are doing and how they are involved in the community, particularly in sport and fitness activities. Obviously we also talk about the importance of their school work and hope hearing a positive message about school from AFL footballers helps them as well.
We had heaps of fun at the Superclinic!
There wasn’t much time to rest after the school visit, a short time to get some fruit and water, before the Superclinic at the Kyabram Football Club Oval. The young kids were fantastic, really enthusiastic which makes it very enjoyable. The tackling pads were a big favourite and some of the kids were hilarious giving us all a good laugh.
Jarrad Waite’s demonstration to the kids was probably the highlight of the clinic for me. Jarrad is always very popular with the children and it was no different at Kyabram. Last year at Benalla he was the ‘star’ as he grew up and played his junior football in Benalla and Kyabram is not too far away so once again the ‘country boy’ was a big hit.
Following the Superclinic it was back to the motel for a quick shower and to change for the official Community Camp function back at the Kyabram Football Club. We couldn’t believe how many people they managed to fit into the function, it was a huge success and I am sure a great fundraiser for the local community. It was as real credit to the organisers and the local people for making this such a successful evening.
A great turnout for the official Community Camp function.
We all sat on different tables for the function to ensure Carlton players were on each table. This not only ensures everyone has the opportunity to talk with the players but importantly it gives all of us the chance to meet and talk with locals from the area. The table I sat on told me the function sold out one hour after tickets went on sale. I really enjoyed having the time to relax and chat with local people and some of our biggest supporters from the Kyabram area.
It wasn’t a late night but it had been a long day so it was good to get back to the motel for a well-earned sleep.
