Photo Courtesy of Rick Hanlon.
AFL CAPE YORK – Kickstart for Community Champions
It’s not every day that you meet someone as Inspirational as 20 year old Marc Harbrow. Marc is one of the up and coming Development Officers at AFL Cape York. Having overcome great adversity of his own Marc is dedicated to bettering the lives of other young Indigenous Australians.
Five years ago whilst participating as a work experience student with AFL Cape York, Marc was struck down with a life-threatening disease, leukaemia (A.L.L). After undergoing treatment for nine months in The Townsville Hospital, a bone marrow transplant from his brother saved his life and now he is using what he learned from his experience to help others.
Moved by the courage he displayed throughout his ordeal, Rick Hanlon, AFL Cape York’s Development Manager, offered Marc a two-year traineeship as part of their Kickstart program.
Kickstart being a program aimed at “improving the health and well being of young Indigenous people. It is directed at youth aged 5-15 years living in remote communities within North Queensland. Children become involved at a very early age enabling continuous contact throughout their formative years.” 1 The emphasis is on developing life skills, building self esteem and giving kids an opportunity to succeed. The program helps encourage school attendance and develop social and moral skills “including the ability to walk away from violent confrontations and reduced reliance on alcohol and substance abuse.” 2
Marc works directly with the kids to help educate and inspire them. Having overcome a life threatening illness himself he speaks candidly about the value of a healthy lifestyle and diet. He says his illness has taught him what’s important in life and he tries to pass this onto those he works with. His aim is to “open the kids minds”, to expose them to positive alternatives to drugs and alcohol and help them realise their full potential.
Recently Marc and ICV Volunteer Alan Brink worked together to prepare a successful submission to establish an AFL Academy in Cape York. The proposal, the first of it’s kind in Queensland, will see AFL Cape York redevelop an existing rugby field and it’s club house to accommodate 20 Indigenous children from remote and disadvantaged communities in the Cape, Torres Strait and the Gulf. It is hoped that by 2007 children will be able to stay at the academy and attend the school best suited to their needs in Cairns.
There will be a strong emphasis on education, sporting and personal skills development, ultimately leading to greater job opportunities down the track. The program will take a holistic approach that fosters commitment and offers support as the students learn additional practical skills such as ground maintenance and food preparation. Whilst sporting prowess is to be encouraged the real aim of the academy will be to develop community champions, to provide training in leadership and to lay the foundations for children wishing to help their own communities when they return home.
Marc, who has already been identified for his own leadership skills, says that his time working with Alan on the proposal was invaluable. He learnt negotiation, planning, record keeping and problem solving skills that not only helped contribute to the successful submission process but which will serve him well in his future career as the potential Development Manager at AFL Cape York.
Marc’s story demonstrates the power of personal dedication and transformation and the outstanding impact that an opportunity can create - and he’s not alone. Rick Hanlon has seen remarkable changes in so many of the children they reach out to, including those once regarded as ‘difficult’. He speaks of one such child in particular who:
“Three years ago he would turn the classroom upside down in a fit of rage if someone upset him. I pulled him aside and told him I would make him a first emergency on the team if he did the right thing and pretty much guaranteed that he’d get to play because someone would drop out. He hasn’t been back in the principal’s office since and he is now on a community based scholarship!...He is now a role model..It worked because someone showed him that they cared about him.” 3
This principle of genuine care and compassion is what underlines each of the programs and makes them so successful. All in all the futures looking bright for Marc, AFL Cape York and the students who will be attending the academy. In the meantime Kickstart continues to make a difference, each day, to the lives of individual youths in Queensland’s North.
As with all ICV projects the learning experience is two way. Alan enjoyed sharing in Marc’s enthusiasm and learning about the positive impact that sport can have on personal development. He hopes that this, the regions ‘first’ academy, will lead to the development of more of its kind.
References: 1,2,3 AFL Cape York Kickstart Program Overview
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