Australian Football Canberra Primary School Cup - Michael McFadden
Last Thursday a team of 14 boys and girls from St Monica’s competed in the Belconnen District Australian Football Primary School Cup.
Reluctantly missing out on a day’s lessons, the students from Years 5 and 6 met at Holt oval on a beautiful Canberra Autumn day. Managed by Gemma Hansen, coached by Paul Raadts, and cheered on by a group of proud parents, the team played footy from 9 in the morning ‘til 2 in the afternoon.
In the early games the team was still finding its mojo but as the day got hotter so did the team. The players listened carefully to Paul’s coaching tips and in the last game of the round robin they were on fire.
Winning a place in the finals, the team came up against Radford College. It was a truly exciting game. Great skills were on display. Booming kicks, screaming catches and smart positional play saw the lead shift from team to team.
When the siren sounded Radford was ahead by the smallest of margins. However, as Coach Raadts commented after the game, “ …another 60 seconds and we would have had them!”
With modified rules and gender equality a priority, the local AFL clubs should be commended for their efforts to make an exciting game accessible to all the kids in the district.
As for the kids from St Monica’s….well they were great. Excellent sporting behaviour, resilience on the receiving end of hard knocks and lots of ‘ticker’ when things got tough.
Well done guys, you should be proud of yourselves.