The ninth Aboriginal Power Cup carnival begins on Thursday morning with over 400 students from 41 schools converging on Alberton Oval to play in the program’s annual football carnival.
The highest ranked boys’ and girls’ teams at the end of the carnival will play curtain raiser grand finals before Saturday’s Round 9 game between Port Adelaide and West Coast at the Adelaide Oval.
The Aboriginal Power Cup is operated by Port Adelaide’s community development arm Power Community Ltd with major partnership support from Santos.
Since commencing in 2008, the Aboriginal Power Cup has grown almost fourfold in the level of participation from students and aligned schools.
For the first time in 2016, the Aboriginal Power Cup is aligned with Power Community Ltd’s school-to-work transition program Powerful Futures, and has used the theme Your Future, Yours for the Taking, to motivate and encourage participants in their final school years.
With continued support from Santos, the Government of South Australia, the South Australian Aboriginal Sports Training Academy and the University of South Australia, the Aboriginal Power Cup is built around an early intervention strategy that uses football as a tool to engage young Aboriginal secondary school students in their education and provide pathways to workforce participation through Powerful Futures.
Completion of the academic units associated with the program are required to participate in this week’s football carnival. 96% of 2015’s participants completed the academic component of the Aboriginal Power Cup program.
Their involvement in the program will culminate after the Aboriginal Power Cup grand finals when students perform a traditional cultural dance before the start of the Port Adelaide-West Coast match.
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas says the Aboriginal Power Cup continues to grow as one of South Australia’s most successful year-long engagement programs.
“The Aboriginal Power Cup is Port Adelaide’s flagship program in this space and has a strong record of achieving outcomes for these students,” Mr Thomas said.
“Through our new school-to-work transition initiative Powerful Futures, we have been working with corporate partners to provide work and training placement opportunities to the graduates of our program.
“Through Powerful Futures, these kids will be able to take the skills they’ve developed through the Aboriginal Power Cup into the workforce or future education.
“I’d like to thank Santos for their commitment to the Aboriginal Power Cup again this year, as well as the Government of South Australia, SAASTA and the University of South Australia.
“The support these partners gives us not only helps us get into more schools and engage with more students each year, but also now enables to grow workforce opportunities after school.”
Santos Managing Director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said Santos is delighted to be again this year be involved in the Aboriginal Power Cup.
“It is great to be supporting a practical program that benefits young people not just over one day, or a few days, but throughout the years of their secondary schooling and beyond,” Mr Gallagher said.
“As a major sponsor and as a company, we like programs that help young Aboriginal people reach their full potential through positive engagement, employment pathways and training and we are delighted that our employees, including former AFL star Che Cockatoo Collins, can actively participate as mentors, goal umpires, in the career expo and in other volunteer roles during the Carnival.
“I know that this assistance also makes a contribution to reconciliation.”
Visit the Aboriginal Power Cup website at http://www.aboriginalpowercup.com.au
