The Southern Regional AFL School Carnival generated huge interest from the young AFL enthusiasts and parents on its one-day event on Saturday, 06 April at Murray Barracks Port Moresby.
Five Hundred students from both private and public schools turned up at the event. AFL PNG Development Manager David Topeni was surprised at the massive turnout.
“I was expecting 300 kids turning up but 500 kids turned up in the morning to be part of our program.
“We are not supposed to be registering the new kids, but just because they are already here, we have to give them opportunities.”
He further said the massive turnout in numbers only shows that AFL PNG has got jobs to do – getting the young talents into its academy programs and nurturing them through to top grades and possibly send them abroad like Ace (Hewago Oea).
Following the registration, they were taken through skills and agility training according to their age categories, under 13s, 15s and 17s. Those that do well here will be included in the PNG AFL Academy Talent program.
Topeni further said more than 10 schools participated in the Southern Regional Schools Carnival – almost all of them form NCD and Central Province. He said this a significant increase in participation both by the children and parents compared to previous years.
This one-day event is hosted on the school holiday. All three other regions also host the event on the school holidays. Highlands region hosted its event on Monday 8 April at Tarangau Primary Oval, Mt. Hagen and Momase Region on Wednesday 10 April at Eriku, Lae. New Guinea Islands Region will host its event this Saturday, 13 April at the Muthuvel Stadium AFL Oval, Kimbe.
Topeni believes the talents identification officers will select the best talents in this program for the AFL PNG Academy Team.