BRENDAN MCCARTNEY VISITS SPOTSWOOD
BY: KIRSTIE FITZGERALD
Believe in yourself and have faith in your abilities.
That was the message Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney had for the boys from Spotswood’s under 14A side when he made a special appearance at training last Friday night.
Faced with a challenging year in the under 14A division and suffering a number of significant losses this season, McCartney was keen to get down to training and help teach the team some basic skills to help make them be more competitive.
“Bob Tregear from the Western Region Football League contacted me and pointed out that a group of boys from Spotswood have had a hard time this year playing against boys who are a lot bigger and stronger than they are and aren’t getting a lot of wins at the moment,” McCartney said.
“But they have a love of the game and they want to play footy and I have a love of the game too and we just talked about what it was like to be younger and smaller than your opposition and how you can keep working together to help each other on the ground and that if you persist and stay strong you can actually overcome it sometimes, which is exactly what we are trying to do at the Bulldogs.”
Running a number of drills alongside Spotswood under 14’s coach Travis Wheeler, McCartney demonstrated how to use your opposition in a marking contest and protect the body as well as went through a number of team drills that saw the boys work together to create space and kick goals.
“The last drill we did was learning about how to make it easier for your teammate when he is under pressure around the ball,” McCartney said.
“It’s not everyone’s first thought to think of someone else when they get under pressure, it’s more well what’s in it for me and when junior sport can get that mindset across to young people through a team sense it’s just brilliant.”
Spotswood under 14 co-captains Sean Anderton and Maxwell Buck said it was a real honour to have an AFL coach give up his time on a Friday night and teach them some new skills.
“It was pretty special to have him come down, not many other kids can say they have had an AFL coach come down and teach them some new skills which we can use for our next game on Sunday so it was pretty exciting,” Buck said.
“He also spoke to us about sticking together, even though we may not be winning every game, we still have to work us a group and hopefully get through the year with a smile and you never know, we even get a few wins throughout the season as well,” Anderton added.
And it seemed like this message of team work and faith stuck with them, with Spotswood’s under 14A side winning their first game last Sunday against Point Cook by two points.
“Just being in a team is one of the great experiences of life,” McCartney said.
“The most important life skill is to learn how to do something for someone else and we touched on that at training.
“I have no doubt that these boys will learn a lot about themselves and each other this year, and while they may have a tough time throughout this season, they will be bigger and stronger next year and come out fighting then.”
For a look at Brendan McCartney’s visit to Spotswood’s Under 14s training session, be sure to tune into the WRFL Junior Footy Show next Friday June 27 at our website www.wrfl.asn.au
Last Modified on 19/06/2014 09:43