VCAL Students visit the Essendon Football Club
A visit to the Essendon Football Club, just the thing to inspire our students…
On Wednesday 22nd of April our VCAL campuses (Yarra Junction and Mt Evelyn) got together to go an excursion to Essendon Football Club. The students took the one hour bus trip out to Tullamarine to go and check out the new training facilities at the True Value Solar Centre.
When they arrived we were taken into the player’s lecture theatre where they met Josh Hose (Paralympian – Wheelchair Rugby gold medallist), Orazio Fantasia (Essendon footballer), and Kyle Langford (Essendon Footballer). Each of the hosts shared stories about their experiences in becoming successful athletes.
Josh Hose talked about how a car accident in 2005 led him to end up in a wheelchair and how he overcame a lot of difficulties to end up winning a gold medal at the London Olympics.
Orazio Fantasia spoke about how he had a tough experience at school and got into a lot of trouble before deciding to dedicate 
himself to achieving his goals at school and in football.
Kyle Langford spoke about how he had been in a lot of trouble for fighting in his early teenage years before deciding that he needed to make better decisions if he was going to achieve his goals in life.
Michelle Murray (Education Program Coordinator at EFC) then took the students through a discussion about risk taking, smoking, drug use and peer pressure. A big thank you goes out to Michelle for organising these great programs and accommodating us for the last 4 years, we straitly appreciate it.
After the discussions we had a chance to wear Josh Hose’s gold medal and take some photos. We also had a chance to ask questions of the speakers who were all very open and honest in their responses.
Then came the fun part – We were taken into the new indoor sports facility located in a huge hangar. We had the chance to kick the footy with the Essendon players and get to know them better. We also had Michelle and Josh take us through a game of “blind ball” where students were blindfolded and had to throw a ball with a bell in it towards the opposing team’s goal. All of the students had a great time during the sporting activities and got to experience something that they wouldn’t normally be able to.
Finally, we went on a tour of the facilities at EFC, which included their new gym, the locker rooms, the hot/cold pools and laps pool. The first joint excursion between the Yarra Junction and Mount Evelyn VCAL campuses was a great day for all involved.
Article by – Mark Hunt
VCAL Coordinator
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