WITH a new school year comes the first Monivae College Sports Academy sessions, with students getting their first taste of the program for 2023.

Football and netball were both on the schedule this week with former AFL coach, Brendan McCartney, and former Super Netball player, Sarah Wall, were both at the college for sessions on Tuesday.

McCartney, who has been involved with numerous AFL clubs as a senior coach and development coach, said

“They are happy if sport makes them happy and so that can spin off into academic achievement, and probably underpinning that is to help develop and grow football in the region,” he said.

“It is a traditional football area and it probably needs a bit of help.”

McCartney will base the program around the fundamentals of the game with specific areas of improvement implemented down the track.

“I coach the game the same way, whether they are younger players or AFL players,” he said.

“We will get to the stage where we teach them stoppage play and systems around that.

“Susie Robinson and I do a lot of work in the Geelong area at Western Heights College and the idea of helping other schools is positive.”

Wall was in Hamilton for her February session with the former Vixens, Giants and Swifts player set to return monthly to complement the weekly sessions.

“Kerrie Jennings will be the weekly coach, but we will be working together,” she said.

“I will be here once a month and we will communicate after each session weekly, and I’ll be able to watch them in their regional games as well, just building that relationship with them.

“Having that one person made a huge difference for me and I want to be that for these girls.”

A move to regional Victoria allowed the partnership to occur with the academy the only coaching position Wall will hold in 2023.

Working with students across multiple age groups will allow her to expand her curriculum, depending on the skill level of each group.

“This is my one coaching role I will be having for the year and I am really passionate about giving back to the country kids, we have such depth of talent and it is probably not as normal for girls out here to go to Melbourne for sessions, so if we can bring the knowledge to them, that is beneficial,” Wall said.

“Even at the elite level, we focus on the basics and so we implement them here, I would love to give them a taste of high-performance values, but my focus this year is wellbeing.

“Whenever I have been in a happy team with confidence, you always play well.

“You will always get the best out of players when they are comfortable in their environment.

“I think it is awesome for the school to have the innovation to include this in their curriculum.”