Towards a Better Future: Eddie Betts on a mission to help kids live healthier lives

AFL great Eddie Betts has been busier than ever since moving to the Top End with his new-found mission to help kids live better and healthier lives.

Eddie Betts hosts a Kicks clinic at Cazaley Oval in Palmerston. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Eddie Betts is a busy man.

He may have retired from the AFL (where he played a total of 350 games and kicked 640 goals) but his schedule is no less busy since recently moving his family to the Top End, where he now pulls on the boots for the Northern Territory Football League’s Palmerston Magpies.

But he’s also using his skills and years of experience to help tailor the Coles Healthy Kicks program to Indigenous communities across Australia, and delivering it himself for maximum impact.

He held his first clinics days after his first game for the Magpies.

Eddie Betts makes his debut for Palmerston against Nightcliff at Cazaleys Oval. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Its mission is to educate and motivate children aged between six and 12 to become more physically active, eat nutritious food and develop a healthy mind and body while having fun with others.

“I’m so proud to be working with Coles in my retirement because I know that together we can help make a real difference to Australia’s First Nation peoples,” Betts, 34, said.

“Coles, being a national brand, gives me the reach I wouldn’t otherwise have and helps to support my goals in inspiring Aboriginal kids around Australia to be the best they can be.”

Halle and Jagger Baines with Eddie Betts as he hosts a Kicks clinic in Palmerston. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The supermarket also helped Betts inspire literacy by purchasing 10,000 copies of MY KIND – the first book in his Lil’ Homies series of educational stories – and distributed it to Indigenous children in remote communities.

“When I started in the AFL when I was 17, I wasn’t able to read or write so I know the challenges and disadvantage this can cause young people,” Betts said.

“From Ceduna to Brisbane to Groote Eylandt in the north, we have been able to send out the first book in my series, MY KIND, to kids, to inspire literacy in children and also bring to life my key messages in the books that I live by – kindness and respect for one another.”

The kids line up as Eddie Betts hosts a Kicks clinic on Monday 15th November at Cazaley Oval in Palmerston. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Coles chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson is thrilled Betts is part of the team.

“We know that Eddie has a unique ability to truly motivate our team, our customers and our suppliers to make a real difference to the communities in which we live and work,” she said.

“We are proud to be one of Australia’s largest private-sector employers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and we know that Eddie will help us raise awareness and address the issues our Indigenous team and customers face in their communities.”

Towards a Better Future, in conjunction with Coles’ Better Together strategy, will share stories on Farming, Local Communities, Health & Wellbeing, and Sustainability/Food Waste to shine a light on the people, charities and organisations that are helping make our country a better place to live.

Originally published as Towards a Better Future: Eddie Betts on a mission to help kids live healthier lives