The Australian Football Academy Program at Emmanuel Catholic College aims to provide students with the opportunity to develop their football skills, tactics and game play strategies. The program provides players with the opportunity to grow as students within the College community and as young men.
The Emmanuel Kings Football Academy Program currently involves Years 8, 9 and 10 based around a Specialised Physical Education (SPE) class which requires a mixture of practical and theoretical units. Our academy has extended into our Year 11 and 12 classes with two specialised lessons, outside of school time, focusing on further developing their football game as well as providing them with life skills to assist them in reaching their goals in the outside world. There is also a required component that will take place outside of school hours where students are expected to attend an hour session a week, either before or after school.
Players within the program are able to gain a Certificate I in Sport and Recreation and a Level 1 Coaching Accreditation with an Australian Football focus. This allows our students to gain an education within other football industries than being purely a player.
Players involved within the program have access to our brand new Sports and Performing Arts Centre along with the conditioning weights room. This allows our players to learn strength and conditioning programs that are designed to improve attributes related to football and aid in injury prevention.
Over the past three years we have built an excellent partnership with South Fremantle Football Club and Fremantle Football Club which allows players to gain an insight on what it takes to make it at the highest level. With our strong link with SFFC, our students have been involved with supporting the league team by running water on game day. It is a very strong relationship and will only continue to grow as we work together to develop our students on and off the field.
Coaching Staff
Coaching and teaching staff involved within the Emmanuel Catholic College Australian Football Academy Program all contain a Level 2 AFL Coaching qualification. Additionally, all coaching staff have current WAFL coaching and playing experience from a development to senior league level. Academy teaching staff frequently attend students’ community club, development or state football games to observe their performance and provide adequate feedback. Evaluating these performances and providing feedback from a college and community assists in the continual development of their skills and tactics.
Facilities
The sporting facilities at Emmanuel Catholic College are of the highest level. The Sporting and Performing Arts Centre contains a fitness gymnasium, which is commonly used for fitness testing and assessment of players.
A weights conditioning room dedicated to players allows for the introduction and completion of strength and conditioning programs. The state of the art equipment is designed specifically to develop attributes related to football such as increasing strength, power, speed and aiding injury prevention.
Students are regularly filmed during training activities and games to allow for the continual development and correction of skill technique, tactics and game play.
Tours and Excursion
Over the course of the program, students will be exposed to quality opposition from other schools and junior football teams to develop their skills and knowledge of various aspects of the game. The students will have a variety of guest speakers from the Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles provide advice on leadership, goal setting and other important areas.