New school AFL academy comes to Kellyville

William Clarke College will be home to a new school-based AFL Academy, the first of its kind in the Hills.

William Clarke College will be home to a new school-based AFL Academy, the first of its kind in the Hills.

The Kellyville school will be the first in the area — outside of specialist sports schools — to run an AFL academy program.

The program will start in February next year, with about 50-60 male and female students in years 7-10 taking part.

The academy squad will train before school at the college, under guidance from AFL and school coaches.

Games will be held at Blacktown International Sportspark in Term 2 and 3 next year.

AFL NSW/ACT development co-ordinator Matthew Mack and William Clarke College head of sport Ben Carr announced the details of the academy at a school assembly on Tuesday.

William Clarke College's head of sport Ben Carr with students James Peatling 15 and Connor Matthews, 15, and AFL NSW/ACT development officer Matthew Mack.

Mack said William Clarke College was chosen by the AFL because of its strong sports program and facilities, including the new sports centre that opened in January.

“They’ve got a really strong sporting culture with their performance and their engagement with a variety of sports, and AFL is certainly one of them,” he said.

“And they also have first-class facilities.”

Mack said the new program was “an exciting link between the schools and AFL participation that we haven’t had before”.

“It’s something we’re really excited about,” he said.

“We’re going to be able to give these kids a taste of higher-level training but without any impact on their school work because the training will be before school and games will be after school.”

Carr said the academy fitted in with the school’s plan to take their sports program “to a new level”.

“The relationship we’re building with the AFL is a really positive one,” he said.

“We’re looking to push that across the board in a whole range of sports.”

Carr said AFL was a popular sport at the school, particularly for the current year 9 students.

About about 50 William Clarke College students from years 5-12 curretly play club AFL on weekends.

“AFL was one of the areas we wanted to grow in the school and there’s a number of students in the area who play AFL, but there wasn’t many competitions for them to get involved with,” Carr said.

“It’s also the seriousness and the level that we’re looking to promote in the sports program.”