By Callum Ludwig
St Joseph’s Primary School in Yarra Junction welcomed a special guest recently, with the young AFL fans at the school particularly excited.
Legendary AFL coach and player Kevin Sheedy visited on Monday 22 July to share some of his knowledge and experience with students.
Casual relief teacher Thelma Asbury was the connection to Sheedy who brought him to the school and said everyone really loved it.
“A lot of the students probably and their parents were a bit young for Kevin’s playing and coaching days, but all the same, they were really pleased,” he said.
“[Principal] Nick [Boyhan] explained to the students who Kevin was, so the students were very excited and they loved the whole day and they loved doing the skills.”
Foundation to Grade Two students spent the first session with Sheedy where he explained the different types of kicks before working with students on those kicks and their handballing skills. After morning tea with the staff, Sheedy did a more advanced ball skills session with the Grade Three to Six students.
Ms Asbury said the visit gave students a connection to football and a good bit of knowledge, as Sheedy is a ‘real stats man’.
“We drew a map of Australia and he talked about where players came from in the first place, talked about Indigenous players he knows a lot about which students were really interested in as we’ve had a big focus on Indigenous matters here at school as we celebrated NAIDOC Week,” she said.
“Kevin was really instrumental in recruiting a lot of players from various places, he talked about how many players have come from Ireland and their code of football as well as about Mason Cox coming from Texas,”
“He also talked about players from out here in the Yarra Valley that have been picked up by various teams, like [Damian] Monkhorst who came from Woori Yallock and Jack Dyer who went to school in Yarra Junction.”
Students who came up and demonstrated in front of others were handed some footy records by Sheedy and St Joseph’s Primary School presented him with a gift to thank him for his time.
