FOOTBALL
BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
INSPIRE and encourage everyone.
Before venturing across to Morwell Recreation Reserve for Collingwood’s super clinic and signing session, a few Magpies stopped into Lowanna College, Newborough for an educational seminar about inclusion and ally-ship.
Steele Sidebottom, Isaac Quaynor and Roan Steele sat down with around 20 Gippsland high school students about the importance of building an inclusive team culture and embracing the different cultures in communities.
After discussing each of their AFL journeys, the Collingwood trio shared what they believed were the cores of a respectful and welcoming club.
The conversation was then turned towards those in attendance, asking questions and divulge what their local football-netball clubs do which make them special and the methods used to involve all people.
One note seen was the uniqueness that country clubs have in being able to connect, for which the Magpie players said is much more different and difficult in a city sporting context.
The primary purpose of the Lowanna visit was also to showcase Collingwood’s partnership with not-for-profit teaching support Cool.org through the recently launched Magpies Minds: Learning Side by Side free resource, delivering real-world solutions to anti-racism and ally-ship through the education space.
With sport participation plummeting for teenagers of a certain age, Cool.org Education Resource Manager, Helen Masters said that everyone, regardless of background or sexual orientation, needs to be uplifted on and off the sporting field.
“If we don’t keep kids in sport, we’re going to lose our sporting culture and we’re not going to have that beautiful teammate-ship and iconic part of Australian culture,” she told the Express.
“In our teaching and learning resources, we really leverage the Collingwood team and how iconic they are and how fantastic they are to get those messages (out) about ally-ship and supporting your teammates and working cohesively together to create an inclusive sporting society.”
Collingwood has a number of initiatives promoting these values, including A Nest For All, Magpie Nest Café, Magpie Nest Housing Program, its Reclink community football team, wheelchair football program, and FASTA football youth program.
“It’s been really fantastic to work with Collingwood because they are such big household names, it’s been awesome to bring them into the schools and actually for kids to hear from their heroes like Darcy Moore telling how important it is to be an ally,” Masters said.
“It’s been a brilliant vehicle to try and get these messages of ally-ship and support and inclusivity into the classrooms.”
Cool.org, formerly Cool Australia, has been running for more than 15 years, reaching over 220,000 teachers through its teaching and learning resources.
