300 students turned out to Port Adelaide’s WillPOWER Cup Carnival in Alice Springs on June 27.

It is the first time the Power have conducted the event, which celebrates the high attendance rates and academic success from students at 29 remote schools from across the APY and Maralinga Lands as well as the Northern Territory’s Barkly region.

Tennant Creek High School took honours in the girls’ competition, while the Western Warriors – a combined team from Amata, Murputja and Pipalyatjara – were the top boys team.

This carnival acts as a reward for academic success by students in their schools and Port Adelaide’s Aboriginal Programs Manager Paul Vandenbergh is excited about the future for the program.

“We had around 300 kids come and play in the footy carnival – which is a reward for great behaviour and school attendance,” Vandenbergh said.

“The carnival was part of our activity around AFL Indigenous Round, but WillPOWER as a program runs throughout the school year.”

Port Adelaide received federal government funding to deliver WillPOWER – a learning program that uses football to educate primary and middle school students about a variety of topics.

It encourages students to use their 'WillPOWER' to make smart choices in school, home and in the community through 16 learning modules aligned to students' curriculum.

Currently the program reaches eight APY Lands schools, one in the Maralinga Lands, four on South Australia’s Far West Coast and 16 Barkly schools.

"Our topics cover areas such as identity, wellbeing, rules, and keeping my community beautiful, to name a few," Vandenbergh says.

“We’ve got a long-term commitment to working with these schools and delivering WillPOWER.

“Thanks to the funding we receive, we’re able to deliver a face-to-face program in schools once per term, and the rest of our work is done via online remote learning workshops on Skype.

“We find that it helps give schools some supplementary education using footy – which young people love – and also promoting better cultural understanding in communities.”