THE Aboriginal AFL Academy will travel to China to play an exhibition game in the 'middle kingdom' as part of an unprecedented cultural exchange supported by Port Adelaide.
The Academy, which is operated with the support of the University of South Australia, the South Australian Aboriginal Sports Training Academy and the major partnership of EnergyAustralia, will play against China's national Australian Football team in an exhibition game.
It will also participate in school visits, coaching clinics, a visit to the Great Wall and an official reception at the Australian embassy as part of a 10-day tour commencing on November 23.
The match against Team China will be held in Guangzhou.
Football performance isn't the only benchmark for the Academy - educational outcomes are core to the program.
Players are also students and must meet specific academic standards to be selected to play.
Port Adelaide's chief executive Keith Thomas says the tour of China is another incentive to encourage the encouraging classroom results shown by the Academy this year.
The group is poised to achieve full completion of their certificate of education.
“The Aboriginal AFL Academy is a program designed to use an elite football product as an incentive for young Aboriginal students to complete their secondary education,” Mr Thomas said.
“Only students who have a proven record of school attendance and academic application will be considered for our football academy and I’m delighted that all students in our current Academy are on track to complete their SACE certificate this year.”
The opportunity to tour China also has benefits for Port Adelaide.
Already a sponsor of the Chinese national squad - Team China - the Power has engaged the Adelaide-based Chinese community through a number of initiatives this year, including recently running a competition to find a Mandarin commentator for its AFL games.
Power players also wore guernseys bearing their names and the flag of China in the recent mulitcultural round.
“As a club we have a strong commitment to engage the Chinese community here in South Australia but also in China itself,” Mr Thomas said.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve introduced a number of initiatives in China including the sponsorship of Team China and the local Southern China AFL competition.
“And just recently we wore a Chinese-themed guernsey in the AFL Multicultural Round with both the Chinese and Australian national flags displayed on the front and the player’s name in Chinese characters on the back.
“We see our Academy team’s excursion to China as the perfect alignment of these two important club strategies.”
