Daw’s younger sister Sarah arrived at Debneys Park in Flemington to teach the primary school kids football skills and the response was enourmous according to The Huddle’s sport and recreation officer Bridget Barker.
“When I introduced Sarah to the kids, I said ‘You all know Sarah’s brother, guess who it is?’ When they guessed ‘Majak’, they all went absolutely wild. They just love him to death,” Barker said.
“The fact that Sarah also plays football now makes the girls realise that it’s definitely something they can do too. They have the dual role models there now in Majak and Sarah, both culturally and in terms of playing football.”
Sarah Daw’s involvement has had an impact already with a noticeable increase in the number of female participants in the program.
Majak’s First Kick has introduced close to 50 young girls to Australian Rules football since it began six weeks ago – that’s close to fifty percent of the total participants.
“Besides a clinic here or there at school, most of these girls have never played footy before. It’s a great learning curve for them, learning about football but also learning that it’s not just for boys,” Barker added.
“The program is important to provide all-female environments and make them feel more comfortable and to continue developing their footy.”
The girls in Majak’s First Kick are not only making new friends and having fun together every Monday, they’re also turning into competitive young players.
“There’s a couple of the girls who are around ten years of age, who in week one couldn’t really kick and didn’t understand the basic mechanics of kicking. However yesterday, they were all kicking to me with all the right motions.
“They were using all the teaching steps that I taught them and talking me through their skills.”
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| Five year old Aseel Kassem from Debney Meadows |
