Learning & Life Centre classroom named "The Huddle"

[Woodson]

Can you imagine the conversation a senior player would have with a new recruit:

Drew: Hey rookie, in the Sac right now.

Rookie: **** off ****.

Hmmm, considering the amount of 'handbag metrosexual new age young boys' around these days, you'd have to say that this rookie in question comes from the bush.. pardon the pun.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Can you imagine the conversation a senior player would have with a new recruit:

Drew: Hey rookie, in the Sac right now.

Rookie: **** off ****.

lolz

 

[Duck_18_]

On the bus from Rochester to The Huddle with my class today. Will report back after a few more coffees!

 

[gokangas]

On the bus from Rochester to The Huddle with my class today. Will report back after a few more coffees!

Coffees or 'coffees'?

 

[Duck_18_]

What!!! No cafe at Arden St!!!!

 

[Gumble Frankieton]

My sister took her Year 5 class to the Huddle yesterday. It was the first time she'd taken a class there but had only heard good things about it from other teachers she's worked with at different schools. The school is in the Northern suburbs and is very multicultural. While the majority of the kids were born here their families are mostly newer arrivals with many coming from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq etc. So basically the perfect demographic to take to the Huddle. Not one of them barracks for North, sad but understandable given the last 4 years, with most of them following Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond etc. But even then footy is less popular than soccer and most of the kids have never been to an AFL game.
While she wasn't sure how the kids would take to the day at the Huddle they really enjoyed themselves. Sounded like the activities were well structured and the facilitator was really good. The kids seemed to have surprised themselves by really enjoying the day after coming in thinking it might be a bit boring. Seeing some of the players training outside during their lunch break and being given free tickets seemed to spark a bit of excitement. They each got 4 free kids tickets which led to a few being quite excited about attending their first AFL match and a number said they'd be supporting North. If only we could win a game or two..

 

[tazaa]

My sister took her Year 5 class to the Huddle yesterday. It was the first time she'd taken a class there but had only heard good things about it from other teachers she's worked with at different schools. The school is in the Northern suburbs and is very multicultural. While the majority of the kids were born here their families are mostly newer arrivals with many coming from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq etc. So basically the perfect demographic to take to the Huddle. Not one of them barracks for North, sad but understandable given the last 4 years, with most of them following Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond etc. But even then footy is less popular than soccer and most of the kids have never been to an AFL game.
While she wasn't sure how the kids would take to the day at the Huddle they really enjoyed themselves. Sounded like the activities were well structured and the facilitator was really good. The kids seemed to have surprised themselves by really enjoying the day after coming in thinking it might be a bit boring. Seeing some of the players training outside during their lunch break and being given free tickets seemed to spark a bit of excitement. They each got 4 free kids tickets which led to a few being quite excited about attending their first AFL match and a number said they'd be supporting North. If only we could win a game or two..

Winning.
Winning is everything.

 

[Gumble Frankieton]

My sister took two lots of kids to the Huddle on successive days about a month ago. As with her first visit last year she and her workmates were really impressed by the program put on by the staff. The other teachers hadn’t been there before and were hugely impressed both by the program and by how friendly and approachable all of the players were. The kids had an absolute ball and the players that helped out were really generous with their time (Jenna Bruton and Bella Eddey on day 1, Kal Dawson and Riley Hardeman on day 2).
As with the previous year most of the kids had previously shown little interest in footy with soccer being the absolutely dominant sport at school (the AFL should really take note and put more resources into these schools). But since their experience about 4-5 kids have said they want to barrack for North. These kids now have a North scarf gifted to them by my sister and they are regularly wearing them at school.

As a side note, my sister was chatting to a girl as they watched training. The girl was there with a newly bought jumper and her plan was to get player signatures as it was for her dad’s 60th birthday but she was feeling a bit shy about approaching the players. Her plan was to keep coming back to training until she got enough signatures. The next time my sister looked over pretty much every player was stopping for a quick chat while signing the jumper.

Apologies if all of this positivity is unsettling for anyone

 

[Better Loosen Up]

Great report Frankie. Thanks for sharing!