Chris Yeend
The Riddell District Football League launched its new Junior Academy on Monday at Diggers Rest. There were 240 talented young stars across the Under 11s, 12s, 13s and 14s age groups who took part in the opening session. Former Macedon star and new Saint Dan Markworth, former Riddell star and now Docker Tom Sheridan and former Melton star and now Greater Western Sydney player Adam Kennedy were among those former RDFL stars in attendance to give tips to the budding footballers and future stars of the game.
This new and exciting initiative is a schools-based academy that is in its infancy and started to develop in June this year. RDFL operations manager Toby Boyle, RDFL junior executive Tony Smith and football development manager Rob Beatson were among the leaders in the development of the program to help provide young stand-out footballers with the best tools to assist in their development with the game. The six-week program will run from October, November and February and has been heavily backed by general manager and Ballarat Football League CEO Rod Ward.
"It is a school-based program that helps kids with kicking and handling the ball properly," RDFL football development manager, Rob Beatson said.
Beatson highlighted that other junior leagues in Melbourne have a greater pool of kids to choose from and that they start their junior interleague program for next year, now. With the assistance of 25 coaches within the league, the kids have every opportunity to improve their skills and lift the standard of junior footballers in the competition. The RDFL has been successful in the past with young players coming through the system and playing AFL football, but the introduction of the academy will put more focus on the kids coming through the system and aid them with their junior football development. The RDFL interleague program continues to build and develop and this new program will further this. Not all of those on the list are guaranteed to play interleague football next year and unlike the interleague program, there will be no cuts. All 240 players will be given the opportunity over the handful of sessions to improve as footballers at an equal level. They will have video footage analysis of their skills and be given more one-on-one attention.
"We want kids to have a better football technique and improve their football knowledge," Beatson said.
He said that the academy will pay a greater focus on attitude and improvement of skill level. Kids who show that they want to be part of the program will be rewarded and will continue through the system. There will be kids who come through the system, lack interest and be replaced by other young up-and-coming stars.
"We are not looking for instant results," Beatson said, "we want to provide kids with a solid skill base."
The age groups will be given the names of AFL stars who came through the RDFL. The Under 11s will be called Kennedy, the Under 12s will be called Sheridan, the Under 13s will be called Markworth and the Under 14s will be called Guthrie (after former junior Sunbury Lion and Geelong youngster Cam Guthrie). These team names will change with those of junior stars making the top grade. There is a possibility of six RDFL juniors set to get drafted this year that include highly-talented Calder Cannons stars Sean Hethington, Lachie Plowman, John O'Rourke and Matt Dick who were also in the list of those in attendance and took youngsters through various drills and answered questions.
Last Modified on 19/10/2012 14:10