Our daughter Rachael joined Hallam Secondary College Sports Academy as she loved her sport so much. Being part of the AFL Academy has given Rachael new directions in life. It has helped her grow in many areas and has provided her with a more positive and confident outlook on life. Being part of the leadership group has given Rachael more responsibilities and greater confidence in all aspects of school – sports and academic. Part of the AFL Academy is to conduct football clinics at various primary schools. Rachael loves being part of these programs as she gets great satisfaction in helping the younger girls learn the skills of football. The coach – Brett Alexander is passionate about seeing the students grow and excel in sport and in life. Brett is a tireless worker who cares about his players, their experiences and how they are achieving both on and off the field. Brett has been a great mentor to Rachael. The Academy and its teachings will help Rachael to pursue her ambitions for a career in sports medicine. As parents we are happy Rachael is part of the Hallam Secondary Collegel Sports Academy.
Linda & Gerry Hunt
It was year nine for Chloe and all she wanted to do was drop out of school. She was generally unhappy with life and not heading in a great direction. Chloe had become an extremely difficult and complex person to deal with. I think its called a “teenager”. I heard about this programme through a friend and managed to convince Chloe to at least think about it. We came for an interview but she was still reluctant with making such a big change to her already complicated life. I did manage to get her there and with her favourite sport being now one of her subjects at school gave her the incentive to keep going. With the support and commitment of people like Brett Alexander to both the program and the students Chloe started to turn herself around. With the students needing to commit to their school work as part of the program helps to balance everything out. I cant praise the program enough and know Chloe would not have finished another year at school let alone complete year 12 and now be working back at the school with a traineeship in a field she truly loves.
Kerrie McMillan
Karly started yr 7 & 8 getting in quite a bit of trouble and playing football was her thing. In yr 9 we moved her to Narre Warren and she started playing football for Berwick youth girls, where she heard about the Hallam Sports Academy. This changed Karly, she really wanted to get in and go further with her footy. Her behaviour changed and grades picked up. Now at Hallam she is getting better with every year. The friends she has are all interested in the same things, footy, which keeps them on a very guided path. Without this program things could have been really different.
Kate and Wayne Tapner
We are writing this as parents of Jenna who attends Hallam Secondary College in Year 11, undertaking the AFL Academy. Over the past 12 months since Jenna has been attending, we have seen a vast improvement in both her football and leadership skills. Our only concern when she began was her academic progress, but we are delighted to say that academically Jenna is excelling. We have seen her grow in maturity and understanding of the game of football, become more influential as a team member and we witness her excitement on a daily basis to attend school. We were so impressed with Jenna’s first year, that we had no hesitation sending our youngest daughter Ashley to the College to join the same program this year. We would highly recommend this program to any parents that have girls that play footy. Thank you Hallam Secondary College for giving us the opportunity of putting our girls through this very successful program.
Keith and Marion Edwards