Hey guys I thought I would give a report on the Skeeta skills clinic down at the Hangar. We left Berwick at 07:15 and arrived at the Hangar at 08:30. Of course no plebs allowed to park in the car park so we had to drive around to Melrose drive to park. We have seen the Hangar from our visits to Urban surf but this is our first time into the Hangar. It was a freezing morning with no wind but hints of aviation fuel in the air.
First thing I noticed is there was no seating for the parents watching hahaha. All the kids were put into groups of around 12 kids in their age groups. My son was in the eldest age group and they were taken to the other end of the ground and started doing some skills. It was pretty basic at the start and my son plays inter league and has trained with melbourne NGA so I started to think it was probably not really for him and more for the younger kids. He looked over at me a couple of times as if to say what are we doing hahaha.
Anyway I walked around to the cafe and get a coffee. I did start to think surely the club could at least spare a couple of players. Even Skeeta hadn’t shown up. The AFLW girls were training on the other oval but no signs of any of the boys. The main reason my son wanted to go was to see some of the players. While waiting for my coffee I look out and see Caddy and a few of the other boys walk past. By the time I got back around to where my son was he was in the middle of a practice game with the players.
So it was 6 kids on each team as well as 3 or 4 players on each. My son had the biggest smile on his face. He had Angus Clarke, Unwin and Archer May on his team against Zac Johnson, I think Gerreyn and ADW and a couple of others. It was pretty slippery but the kids had a ball. My son kicked a few goals and took a few good marks and also got his ankles broken by I think it was Zac Johnson hahaha.
The boys were getting around all the kids high fiving them it was great for the kids. Angus Clarke took a mark my son ran around got the handball and snapped a goal. Clarke ran up to my son to give a high 10 and my son wasn’t paying attention and gave Clarke the cold shoulder hahaha. I will say Clarke was an absolute legend with the kids and also Unwin is a nutcase in the best of ways. He was the biggest kid out there. Looking around the rest of the ground at the other groups there were players helping out each age group. There was no senior players there that I could see but probably around 25 plus of the young group. Blakiston was the oldest one there.
My take from all the young fellas is they all seem REALLY happy to be around each other. In the game my son was in they were really having a good time in each other’s company which I think is a great thing. My son did go in for a tackle on a couple of the boys and I was thinking don’t get injured (and I mean the players haha). After the clinic they had a Q&A with the players.
The biggest thing I took out of it is that most players like to eat pasta before a game and most kids would rather eat pizza. Some players were asked who they supported as a kid and some of the the answers being Richmond and Collingwood getting the biggest boos. When Robey was asked who he supported as a kid his response got a massive cheer.
Now talking about Robey he absolutely looks like he loves it down there. He had a smile on his face the whole time and had heaps of time for the kids. He is definitely a keeper. Kako was one of the most popular and was last one there still signing autographs. Artemis looked pretty chuffed with kids asking for his autograph. My son asked for his phone and when they told all the kids to get on the other side of the fence my son took his chance and ran over to Kako for a chat and a photo. After they gave all the kids a poster and the players came over and signed the posters and took selfies with the kids.
My son was rapt he got a selfie with pretty much all the players. So what I thought was going to be a pretty basic skills clinic turned out to be an awesome day for the kids. My son was rapt. I swear Angus Clarke is such a knock around country kid. Not just in the game today but afterwards the lady in front of me was holding a bag of lollies while he was signing autographs he had his hand in the lolly bag helping himself to some lollies.
My biggest take is all the young group of players seem really happy in each others company. It was probably a good thing some of the senior players weren’t there. All in all it was well worth the drive. We had to take off because there was another session after us. Look my thoughts on the Hangar is the facilities look great( apart from no seating) but the location is no good. Anyway this is the first topic I have created since being on blitz but just thought I would give an insight of what the club has done for the young kids that were there today. Apologies also for a lack of paragraphs but I’m not in school anymore so can’t see the point.
**Edit I tried to break it up with some paragraphs **
