In 2024, Adam Curran from Stirling East Primary School in South Australia was crowned the AFL Schools Teacher of the Year as part of the 2024 TOYOTA AFL National Volunteer of the Year Awards. Last week we caught up with Adam to uncover what value he finds in the AFL Schools Membership program, and learn about his experience at the AFL Grand Final in 2024 as part of the prize for winning our Teacher of the Year award:
What do you see as the main benefits of being an AFL Schools Member?
Definitely the access to the FREE range of teacher resources AFL Schools provided through their website, and also the ability to apply for Grants as part of the National Schools Grants program which our school has benefited from. In addition, it also unlocks a lot of local support networks through the AFL & SANFL teams and allows me to keep up to date with new initiatives around training and development.
How do you use Australian Rules Football as a vehicle to engage and educate your students?
I see firsthand the positive benefit the game can have on students, so where possible I try to implement the game as much as possible to engage our students. Some initiatives I have been able to implement over the past year include:
- A visit from the SANFL team to run clinics with R -2 students which provides a great opportunity to promote Auskick and Superkick programs within the local area
- Conduct a Football unit in PE lessons to build upon knowledge and skills. This is usually 4 to 6 weeks and is based on the Practical Modules for teachers available on the AFL Schools website
- Attend local football carnivals including modified versions of the game which provide a great entry point for girls to experience the game for the first time.
- Use past students to umpire at local carnivals which enables our current students see this and aspire to do this. We have also used past female students to coach the teams at Carnival / Gala Days
- Promote Gather Round opportunities – had 3 teams participate in an after-school program.
- Promote local football clubs and representative opportunities within our district
- Selector and coach for local representative teams
What AFL Schools initiatives / resources for teachers do you find the most useful?
Everything that is offered is of high quality and adds great value to implementing the game at our school, but if I had to call out a few they would be:
- The Practical Teacher Led Lesson Plans for all of Primary School are fantastic resources that provide a lot of great ideas for activities
- The Professional Development event that is run as part of Gather Round in SA
- School grants received (have used to help purchase a new set of guernseys for our teams and to also to attend carnivals)
- Incursions run by the SANFL team and AFL Player Appearances
As the 2024 AFL Schools Teacher of the Year winner, you received a trip to Melbourne to attend the AFL Grand Final – what was that experience like?
The Grand Final experience was amazing! The experience was surreal and it was an honour to be recognised as the 2024 AFL Schools Teacher of the Year.
We had a small dinner on the Thursday night with the other award winners, some AFL staff and a couple of special guests. On the Friday morning, we headed to the Grand Final Parade. To our surprise we were leading the parade. This was quite an experience, a little overwhelming but it had a fantastic vibe with the large crowd in attendance. We were very lucky to be able to get close to the players and coaches as they finished the parade. The atmosphere around the MCG after the parade was electric as it was around central Melbourne.
On the Saturday morning, we walked to John Cain Arena for an official AFL function. This included a 3-course meal and guest speakers (including Tom Hawkins, Max Gawn, Dan Hannebery, Bachar Houli and Craig McRae). After the function we walked across to the MCG to our brilliant seats just in time Greg Brady to belt out ‘Up There Cazaly’. This brought the goosebumps with 100,000 people singing along. The atmosphere for the game was excellent with the day turning into a bit of a blur. The AFL staff (Rhys and Aofie) were awesome along with all the other award winners who all helped make this a very memorable experience and one that I was very grateful to be a part of.
Congratulations again to Adam for taking out the award last year, and we look forward to crowning a new 2025 AFL Schools Teacher of the Year shortly.
To enjoy all of the benefits that Adam has outlined above, learn how you can become an AFL Schools Member HERE.