Port Adelaide's Aboriginal AFL Academy is in China for a unique 10-day trip, which will involve cultural exchanges, a game against Team China and a trip to the Great Wall of China.

Academy graduate Anthony Stengle will give regular updates on his experiences.

Day 5
This morning we were up bright and early again to get ready for another big day.

We met as a group for traditional Chinese breakfast at 7.00am. It is a lot different to back home in Australia. For breakfast, they serve up what we would normally eat for dinner, food like rice and noodles.



I had rice for breakfast which was quite nice but I must admit I did head over to the shops across the road from our hotel to buy some local “Up and Go” drinks.

After breakfast we jumped on a bus for about an hour and headed to the Guangdong Country School which is in a place called Foshan.



This school was very impressive and they even had a hotel on campus which we stayed in for the night.

The school itself was huge with 4500 students and over 800 students.

When we first arrived we were greeted with a traditional Lion Dance which was great fun. I’m not talking about real lions of course but students in lion suits performing a very colourful dance routine.



We then headed inside for a short welcome where a young lady played an instrument called a Guzheng. The Guzheng is something I’ve never seen before. It’s a stringed instrument like a long, flat violin and she played it beautifully.



After this we went onto the oval for a Tai Chi demonstration which was very interesting. We couldn’t believe how smoothly the demonstrator moved. Tai Chi involves using a special fan that you flick open as part of the routine. I’d never seen anything like this before and it was great fun. I was even lucky enough to hop up on stage with a few of our boys and take part in a demonstration.

It was then our turn to demonstrate our culture to their students. As with our previous school visits, we performed our traditional War Cry, followed by a Boomerang and spear demonstration. The difference with this school is that all of the students were Chinese nationals so it was quite special to share our culture with them.




We then headed in for lunch where I made many new Chinese friends. I sat down and enjoyed lunch with Joel, Brett, Jeremy, Jay and Adam and got their personal details so I can keep in touch with them when I return to Australia.

After lunch we rested in our room for an hour. Then we headed back onto the oval for an Auskick session with the students. They took a lot of interest in what we were trying to teach them and although they struggled at first they soon got the hang of kicking and handballing. In saying that, they were much more comfortable at the end of the session when we played a game of soccer.

In the late afternoon we headed back to our rooms for a rest.

We then had dinner with some of the students at our hotel and I got to try some traditional Chinese goose which was quite tasty.

To end the dinner we surprised our team mate Aziel with a surprise birthday cake as he turned 18 a couple of days earlier.

After dinner I chilled out with the boys and played some pool at the hotel.

Day 6
Today was set to be another busy day.

I got up at 7.00am for a team breakfast at the hotel at 7.30am.



We then packed our bags left the hotel and boarded a bus for Guangzhou University where we went to play our second and final game of football. Today we were going to play the Chinese national representative team called Team China.

Before that we were lucky enough to be shown a traditional martial arts demonstration. I thought some of our players were quick on the footy field but these martial arts experts were amazing.



After the demonstration, we took the local junior teams through an Auskick clinic which was a lot of fun. Most of the kids were Chinese nationals aged between six and eight years and some of them showed a lot of talent.

We then got prepared for our game against Team China. The weather was around 22 degrees so it was perfect footy weather. This ground was more like a normal football oval too rather than like the rectangular pitch we played on in Hong Kong.

The boys again were very excited about the opportunity of playing against the Chinese national team.

As expected our boys got out of the blocks quickly and we had a great first quarter kicking eight goals to none. We were finding plenty of space and our Chinese opponents were struggling to read the play and keep up with our quick ball movement.

The second quarter was a different story though with Team China proving to be highly competitive. They started winning the football, especially through centre clearances, and held us to 1.5 for the quarter while they scored two points.

At half-time both sides agreed to split the teams up where some of the Team China boys joined the Academy team while some of our players, including me, played for Team China. This was a really good experience because we got the opportunity to play with our Chinese friends and share the experience, rather than play against them.

The quarter was a good one for me and my Team China team mates and we comfortably outscored the Academy team.

In the final quarter we returned to our usual teams and the Academy team ran away with the game to win by 44 points, 94 to 50.



Like our game against the Hong Kong Dragons, this game was played in great spirit and everyone on both teams seem to thoroughly enjoy the occasion.

At the end of the game we gave out our best player award which went to Kaleb Tree for kicking four goals up forward.

After the game we finished the day with a dinner with Team China at a local restaurant in Guangzhou.