V SWANS DOING GREAT WORK UP NORTH
By Chris Pike
SWAN Districts' V Swans team and Nic Naitanui enjoyed a trip to Dampier last weekend ahead of this Saturday's game in the Pilbara town against East Perth.
Naitanui was a hit with the locals at the schools in the area as Swan Districts, through its V Swans program, ran clinics and talks with the kids as well as taking part in games and other activities.
The West Coast No. 1 draftee who was picked up by the Eagles after the 2008 season where he played in the grand final for Swans was a hit with all those in Dampier, as were Peter Matera and the whole staff there.
The trip then lasted the whole weekend after going up on Friday morning. It might have been zero degrees when the crew left Perth at 5.30am on Friday, but it was soon 30-degrees up in Dampier in conditions that should be similar this Saturday.
The team had a tremendous time, though, and even took in some fishing and other activities in the region over the weekend.
That trip followed one a couple of weeks ago that saw Matera and crew head to Roebourne and Wickham.
The V Swans program took its program that is Western Australia's leading youth development sporting programs provider to Roebourne and Wickham recently with over 120 kids turning out in Wickham, another 100-plus in Roebourne and over 200 for a community barbecue.
The aim of the program is to be an innovative leader in youth development in the Pilbara, Bunbury and east metropolitan Perth, which is the areas zoned to Swan Districts, and it uses sport to deliver pathways in education, healthy lifestyles and career development.
The program has been a tremendous success right throughout all the communities it services, particularly in the Pilbara, and Matera and his crew including Tracey Pemberton, Richard Coates and Jaden Parker had a great time throughout Wickham and Roebourne.
The trip was all about helping out the local communities and also in preparation for the July 3 clash with East Perth that Swan Districts' will host. The schedule was full on, but Matera can't think of anything more satisfying than helping out in the communities.
"It was all about promoting community activities with the Wickham community and it coincides with the game on July 3. It was about going into schools and talking about the programs that we do, and about healthy lifestyles, eating, being active and leadership," Matera said.
"We got off the plane in the morning and it was just a full day of activities and it's all about sending the message out about the kids and their lifestyle, and for everyone in the communities and how they can become role models and leaders. It's about using education to do that, but also football and netball.
"We are hoping to get a lot of people to the game. We're looking at roughly 5000 showing up and they are putting in grandstands and everything to accommodate for that. We'll be up there a week and-a-half to two weeks prior to get around all of the Pilbara to promote the game and hopefully we get a lot of people along, but it's more about the community activities, and community involvement. Hopefully it will go off."
The trip took in schools in Roebourne and Wickham where the kids took part in netball and football activities, but also to hear from a former AFL champion (Matera), top-level netballer (Pemberton) and youngster from Tom Price (Parker) who has come through the program successfully.
By passing on all that, Matera has no doubt it leaves a positive impact and not only do they leave the community feeling like people from outside actually care, but with programs in place going forward.
"We went through everything about the program and what we encourage them to do with the school in Roebourne with myself, Tracey Pemberton and Richard Coates. We did the same thing at Wickham and had 120 kids there. We had two separate groups and we also had Jaden Parker up there with us," Matera said.
"He was doing clinics outside with Richard and inside myself and Tracey were going through the healthy lifestyles and healthy eating programs. Tracey spoke to the girls at Roebourne and I was with the boys and then she took the girls for netball, and myself, Jaden and Richard took the boys for footy out on the oval.
"With the Roebourne kids, we talked to them about making the right choices in regard to their next transition in life and about how they can be role models for the younger kids in the community. Then down on the oval we had an Auskick clinic and had about 100 little kids where we played a couple of grid games. Jaden and I took one side and the guys from Wickham did the other side.
"We had a community barbecue where we cooked up a healthy meal with chicken, pita bread, salads and all the good foods that the kids can have. We had all the parents there as well and there would have been more than 200 people, so that was fantastic. I took a training session out with the Wickham Wolves also and ran them through a couple of drills."
Matera finds it tremendously satisfying to work with the local communities and to not only give them a thrill by his presence, but to then pass on all his knowledge and healthy lifestyle advice that they can then implement into their own lives.
He finds that it makes such a massive difference in the V Swans program given that the team is now able to have a regular presence in the communities.
"There's not many current players or retired players, like myself, who actually get up there and see the kids. Some of them wouldn’t know who I am, the teachers and parents all do, but most of them have heard about what I did as a player and now see me constantly up there, I've built up a good rapport with them," he said.
"I guess seeing their faces when they see me is great, and I know that in the weeks after we leave they keep talking about everything we did. It's more about trying to give something back and in my role of being with the communities, I realise they don’t actually get to see people that come up there too often. When they do the teachers, principals and so forth are so excited, and now we go up there a fair bit and it's great to see everyone's response.
"The teachers can't believe how quiet the kids are when we talk to them so in that regard it's really good. The V Swans program is growing yearly and the crew we have is great, and we all get great satisfaction from the work we do. For me it's good to be part of a group who is getting good results and it is showing with our attendance figures with kids in our program and how much they enjoy what they are doing with us."
While football is part of the V Swans program and it provides youngsters from the region to come down and try their hand at playing WAFL football, the focus is on improving the lives of the whole communities.
Sometimes the best impact the program can have is by helping the kids get an education and to become positive role models and leaders in their communities.
That is what makes it something that Matera is so glad to be part of and he's about to head out to Punmu shortly to have a look at some local talent, then up north with Nic Naitanui next week and then to the Dampier area in the build-up to the game with East Perth there on July 3 also.
"By having Swan Districts and the V Swans program involved is that we are always up in schools and communities, and watching games that are going on. We are about to cruise up to Punmu to have a look at their footy carnival to see some guys' play," he said.
"The talent is amazing that's in the Pilbara and this is about giving them an avenue and pathway to the WAFL, whether it colts, reserves or league to give them that transition. The door is always open for guys up there and we are always talking to players and coaches. There's always an avenue, it's just about if they want to undertake it or not. Some of them don’t want to leave home because they are comfortable in their communities."
