The Swan Districts Football Club through its V Swans program has done some tremendous work throughout the Pilbara and local communities in the build-up to this weekend's clash with East Perth.
In partnership with Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Shire of Roebourne, SciTech & FORM, the Swan Districts Football Club via it’s V Swans initiative, have spent the last nine weeks delivering the 2010 Rio Tinto Sporting Communities program. The program weaves sport with science and culture, working alongside teachers and schools to challenge young people’s minds as well as their bodies.
The staff responsible for the program delivery includes former West Coast Eagles premiership stars Peter Matera and Chris Lewis working as program co-ordinators, along with V Swans Regional Development Manager Richard Coates, Jaden Parker and Nicole Graves.
Matera did it all in his AFL career with the Eagles where he played 253 games, won the Norm Smith Medal for his five-goal performance from the wing in the 1992, grand final and has since been inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame and WA Football Hall of Fame.
While he continues to contribute to Swans on the football front, Matera finds greater satisfaction in delivering positive messages to the communities in remote WA. "We have spent the last nine weeks delivering a broad range of activities including football skill development programs at local Auskick centres, and Junior and Senior clubs across the region. But more importantly we’ve conducted Coaching Courses & Leadership programs, delivered the healthy eating message through ‘Healthy Eating BBQs’ & Healthy Lifestyle Fun Days, in conjunction with the SciTech & FORM initiatives based around the sciences and arts. ‘
This nine week lead up culminates with the Round 15 NAIDOC clash between the Swan Districts and East Perth Football Clubs as the showcase event and Matera expects the Pilbara community to get right behind the clash with the Royals with both sides desperate for finals action in 2010.
"We are hoping and expecting to see a large crowd at the game. We have actively been promoting the game since May whilst visiting the region as part of our program delivery, and will spend the final two weeks full-time in the region completing our program delivery with Scitech and FORM. This is a great opportunity for people in the region to see some top class WAFL action so we’re hoping to see around 5,000 people get along to watch.’
The WAFL game has received tremendous support, with Rio Tinto as the major sponsor, and the Shire of Roebourne and Department of Sport and Recreation together providing a significant level of financial assistance, ensuring the delivery of more than just a football game.
Such collaboration from multiple partners within and across industry has meant greater outcomes can be achieved as a result of the initiative to build an entire program around the game. To find organisations willing to join forces and commit to providing positive outcomes for these communities is a wonderful result.
The delivery of positive messages underpins all V Swans initiatives, which have continued to grow over the last four years. V Swans is the flagship youth development program of the Swan Districts Football Club and is not all about playing sport. Sport is utilised as an instrument to improve educational, employment, health and social well-being of Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth.
The V Swans program has grown to become one of WA's leading youth development sporting program providers throughout the Pilbara, Bunbury and the eastern metropolitan suburbs of Perth; the Swan Districts' catchment zones. By working in collaboration with schools and communities in the region, the program uses sport, in particular football and netball as a tool, to deliver pathways in education, healthy lifestyles and career development, contributing to building active and engaged communities.
"The V Swans program is rapidly expanding and the crew we have is great, and we all get enormous satisfaction from the work we do. It's good to be part of a group that is achieving visible and measurable results and the improved attendance figures demonstrate how much the youth of the region enjoy what they are doing with us. Working in a program that is so successful makes what we do so much more satisfying," Matera said.
"For me, working with Swan Districts through it V Swans program is definitely about giving something back. In my role, where I have the opportunity to consistently visit the communities of the Pilbara, I realise that the people of the region don’t actually get to see prominent people visit regularly, and certainly not as a point of follow up. When they do, the teachers, principals and the kids are extremely excited, and this is definitely infectious. Now that we consistently visit, and have got to know the many personalities, it’s great to see everyone's positive response.
The program which commenced as a partnership between BHP Billiton Iron Ore, West Coast Eagles and the Swan Districts Football Club has continued to grow over the last six years. It has been tremendously successful in raising school attendances, particularly in Pilbara communities, increasing participation rates in community sport and in creating a positive effect throughout the schools and communities in this area.
“Since the introduction of the V Swans’ Kicking Goals program we have seen considerable improvement in attitudes and confidence of participants, improved attendance at school, improved academic and physical education achievements and reduced incidences of negative behaviour at school.” said Carolyn Cook, Principal Hedland High School.
The SDFC understands that a strong and successful football club is the legacy of fostering strong individuals and communities – they go hand in hand. The combination of programs delivered through V Swans is a unique community solution designed to:
- Reflect the club’s belief that sport is a powerful tool for teaching life skills, developing young people and communities
- Demonstrate a recognition of the SDFC social responsibility and commitment to the people in their region
- Have it’s activities and strategies fully integrated into the school curriculum and education system
- Embrace diversity, inclusiveness and integration involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth, young people from non-English speaking backgrounds; and both male and female participants; and
- Be community focussed, recognising that local capacity building and community development assists communities to engage young people in it’s development programs.
The growth of the program is primarily attributable to the ongoing support of its existing network of partners, including founding partners BHP Billiton Iron Ore and the West Coast Eagles, Steel Blue, Integrated, Department of Education & Employment Workplace Relations (DEEWR), Pilbara Motor Group, Ngarda Civil & Mining, Australian Reliance, North West Netball Association and Newcrest Mining Ltd.
