Pupils at Brighton Beach Primary School received a pleasant surprise with a visit from Melbourne Vixens captain and Australian Diamonds star Madi Robinson to congratulate them for their support of the Sporting Schools program.
Netball Victoria’s Schools coordinator Shay Dickson said the school delivered 17 programs over the past month and more than 400 pupils from prep through to Grade six took part in a total of 68 sessions.
School PE teacher Josh Ancrum said the kids had embraced the netball program. A Netball Victoria community coach came in two days a week to deliver the sessions.
“We started with the very basics, not stepping and being able to learn how to pass,” he said.
“We then progressed onto defensive strategies and the last couple of weeks we’ve been focusing on scoring goals and getting into those modified games.
“The fact that Madi is able to join in on some of the drills, have a talk with them about how to lead a healthy lifestyle and be a role model sportsperson and hand out their participation medallions, the kids just loved it.”
Robinson, herself a primary school teacher, praised Brighton Beach for its support of Sporting Schools.
She conducted a half-hour Q&A session with three grades and finished off by holding a clinic.
“It’s great to be able to come to the school and talk with the kids and see how they’ve progressed with their skills over the course of the program. Hopefully that inspires them to want to continue on their journey with netball,” Robinson said.
For more information about the Sporting Schools program and how to get your school involved or become a Sporting Schools coach in 2016, click here.
