PORT ADELAIDE will travel to Whyalla and Port Lincoln for its annual Community Camp in 2020, building on the success of a similar visit ahead of last season.
The camp, from Thursday 5 March, will see Port Adelaide players visit schools, hospitals, nursing homes, kindergartens and football clubs to spend time with locals.
It’ll lead into the Power’s Marsh Community Series game against the Western Bulldogs at Whyalla’s Bennett Oval on Saturday 7 March.
The various camps from clubs around the league give regional football fans direct access to the game, with 750 players set to spread far and wide across Australia into regional and rural communities.
For Port Adelaide, Eyre Peninsula is part of the club’s regional heartland with a strong supporter base and a number of players historically coming from the region.
The club’s Major Sponsor GFG and its Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta have significant links to Whyalla as the owner and operator of the city's steelworks.
Mr Gupta had a vision to bring AFL to Whyalla and as part of that, Port Adelaide has committed to increasing its engagement with the local community.
General Manager – Power Community Limited, Ross Wait, says visiting the region and engaging with at least 5,000 people will be an enjoyable experience for everyone associated with the club.
“The community camp is always a very rewarding experience for staff and players as well as those members of the community that we get to come into contact with,” he said.
“Whyalla and the surrounding area are really important to us as a club and having a pre-season game there will allow us to really spend some quality time in the community, engaging with local people who otherwise might not get as much exposure to AFL players as people in Adelaide do.”
Among the chances for people to rub shoulders with their favourite Port Adelaide players will be Sportsman’s nights in each of Whyalla and Port Lincoln on Thursday 5 March and a free junior coaching clinic in each of the centres earlier that day.
More information on the coaching clinic and Sportsman’s night will be available closer to the camp.
There’ll also be a coach education forum run by members of the Power coaching team to help support local junior and senior coaches.
“We’ve tried to incorporate into our camp a number of football-themed activities and coaching clinics to encourage the next generation of footballers and coaches to involve themselves with the game and grow their skills and knowledge,” Mr Wait said.
“It’s not often that we get to visit regional centres like Whyalla and Port Lincoln and we’d love to see as many people as we can during our trip.”
All money raised from the Sportsman’s nights and the rest of the visit will help support local football in the region.
