Game on: Eumemmerring College Hallam campus assistant principal John Lyall, Eumemmerring College principal Brian Burgess, year 12 student and footballer Matt Stanley, Dandenong Stingrays football manager Darren Flanigan and teacher Ben McGee welcome VCE football to Eumemmerring College’s Hallam campus.By Cam Scott
THE goal posts of senior school education have been widened at the Hallam campus of Eumemmerring Secondary College.
Next year the school, in conjunction with the under 18 TAC Cup football side the Dandenong Stingrays, will offer football as a VCE subject, allowing students to earn bonus points towards their tertiary entrance ranking scores.
The Stingrays and the school finalised talks last week, leading to the establishment of a sport and recreation Vocational Education Training (VET) course for students undertaking years 11 and 12 studies.
The program has already been running at other schools for some years, with Box Hill Senior Secondary College and Essendon Keilor College two of the program’s participants.
Eumemmerring College teacher Ben McGee said the school was excited about the initiative.
“Because the nature of schooling has changed at VCE level, students are now doing a lot of industry vocational training,” he said.
“We’ve managed to tie in sport and recreation as a VET subject, but now it is delivered through the vehicle of football as well.
“We’re now seeing education becoming very progressive and making stronger links with local industries.
“Football is a business now so it ties in very nicely with that type of training.”
The course will consist of training and physical conditioning components, largely structured by the Stingrays, but also work experience and training courses that could help lead students into careers in sports management, personal training, or even sports journalism.
“If you’re a young aspiring footballer, the program will suit your needs and you can still importantly get some academic credits for being involved in the program,” Mr McGee said.
With tertiary education uptake historically low at the Stingrays, the club’s football manager Darren Flanigan said it would provide a greater opportunity for aspiring elite footballers that don’t get drafted to an AFL team to still access tertiary education.
“I just think it’s a sensational opportunity and these sort of opportunities for kids gives them a fantastic chance to finish secondary college and get into education courses in their chosen field,” he said.
“We look at it as having kids in our department having a chance to improve academically, and it also gives kids from outside our program a chance to become part of our program.”
Mr McGee stressed that the course was also open to females and that applicants would have to undergo an interview with Eumemmerring College’s Hallam campus principal Andrina Young and assistant principal John Lyall.
“The beauty of the program is there’s so much room for it to evolve and I dare say it’ll change from year to year,” Mr McGee said.
“It’s very exciting for the school because once you’ve got the model in place for football, it can be duplicated for other sports like netball.”
