While the Foxtel A-League All Stars have been training hard to become a cohesive unit, they’ve also been showing their All Star quality by giving back to the community away from the football paddock.
While the Foxtel A-League All Stars have been training hard to become a cohesive unit, they-ve also been showing their All Star quality by giving back to the community away from the football paddock.
A large part of their week leading into the blockbuster clash against Manchester United has been dedicated to various community engagement programs that have been designed to promote football at the grassroots level.
Someone who-s played an important role in running these various initiatives is Josh Hallam from Soccer Kickstart, whose organisation run programs aimed at developing kids skills and making football fun.
He has thoroughly enjoyed helping to bring football to the community and applauded the way the Foxtel A-League All Stars have interacted with kids in the various initiatives.
“It-s been great to see this week has not been all about the game with Manchester United and that we are using this opportunity to really promote football to our kids,” said Hallam.
“We-ve had a good spread of activities running, from our Skill Acquisition Programs for some of our All Star juniors, to multicultural training sessions such as our African youth football clinic.”
Hallam, the General Manager of Soccer Kickstart, identified the Foxtel A-League All Star launch and open training session as being particularly special and something many of the kids involved will remember for the rest of their lives.
“Seeing the way the kids listened to their All Star players and coaches was very gratifying, as they hung off every word that was said.
“Having the All Star players there to demonstrate some of the skills and drills they do in their own training definitely made the clinics extra special.”
Another person who has been heavily involved in organising the logistics of the various programs that have run this week is Western Sydney Wanderers Community, Pathway and Football Development Manager Tim Thorne.
According to Thorne the aim of the programs has been to recognise the contribution of four groups of Community All Stars – they being our kids, coaches, schools and club ambassadors.
He was proud of the many coaching clinics, school sessions, and community visits that had taken place throughout the week and hoped there would be a flow on effect in years to come.
“The great thing is that our A-League All Stars will be out there motivating our Community Club and Coach All Stars.
“This in turn will help develop our Future All Stars who can potentially grow up to become our next generation of A-League All Stars.
“So really we-re trying to not only give recognition to those who give so much of their time to football in this country but also create a cycle of development that can be seen for years to come.”
Hallam and Thorne both predicted that by the end of the week the various fan engagement programs being run in conjunction with Football Federation Australia would reach the projected target of 10,000 football fans.
While they could not wait to see the Foxtel A-League All Stars take on Manchester United this Saturday night at ANZ Stadium, they were also looking forward to seeing the benefits of the week-s football activities for years to come.
The Foxtel A-League All Stars will debut against Manchester United at ANZ Stadium, Sydney, on 20 July with the match to be broadcast live and exclusive on the Seven Network nationally.
