I have just returned from a visit to the US with my eldest son William where amongst the
sites of New York, an NFL game in Philadelphia and an ice hockey match in Washington
where we witnessed one of the game’s current greats Alex Ovechkin play, we also had the
opportunity to assist at a local Auskick in Washington DC.
Chris Adams, who is Australian, has been running the Saturday morning football program in Washington DC since 2006. He has lived in the USA since 1994 and first played for the Milwaukee Bombers while living and working in Wisconsin. When he moved to Washington Dc in 2001 he played for the Baltimore Washington Eagles. He has also been an assistant coach there as well as an executive on the USAFL Board. These days he coaches juniors.
Peter Schwab and Chris Adams at the DC winter clinic.
Chris is a quietly spoken man with a passion for the game and a bigger passion to introduce it to the local children. His 10 year old son CJ is also a motivating factor for Chris to keep the game as strong as he can in a foreign environment, because it allows CJ the opportunity to learn and play the game.
Chris had arranged for us to be picked up early on a very cold, but sunny Saturday morning for the drive to Yorktown High School for the Auskick session. Our driver was a 29 year old local physical education teacher Jay Levesque.
Jay’s connection to AFL is not as clear cut as Chris’ but it is a great example of how the game has a strange way of finding converts when it comes to the international scene.
Jay was visiting his brother in Malmo Sweden when his brother suggested he try this new game of Ausssie Rules that he’d been hooked into by people he’d met there. So Jay rocked up to an impromptu match in a park in Malmo and fell in love with the game.
He has since gone onto play with the US Revolution the national AFL team and he represented the USA in the 2008 International Cup in Melbourne and is in the squad to come back for the 2011 International Cup.
Jay came from a soccer background so he just felt the game suited him. His soccer background was an advantage he told me. Chris said Jay is a fast wing come flanker with a very good left foot kick. Jay jokes his still waiting for the AFL scouts to notice him.
Jay as a teacher believes he can generate interest by conducting after school classes for AFL. He sees a market given he has introduced the game into his physical education classes at the elementary school he teaches at and found the children enjoy the openness of the game and the “random nature with which the ball can find them by the way it bounces around.”
Chris operates his “Saturday morning program” over six weeks beginning in late June just as school is ending for summer. “Each session is 90 minutes,” explains Chris. “And for the younger kids (age 5-8) it is pretty standard Auskick style sessions with skill activities and a modified game at the end. For the older kids (9-15) we introduced a house footy league with small sided games and a round-robin format each week.”
In 2010 they had about 100 participants overall with an average of 50 attending each session. The average age is 7 and 30% of all participants are female, with at least 50% of participants having an Australian connection.
“About half of our participants are Americans, many of who have never heard of the game until a friend or neighbour told them about it, or they got a flyer from school,” said Chris.
The “flyers” are a significant way Chris is targeting more students to participate. Last year he placed a flyer for every student in six elementary schools, this year he will increase that to 20 of Arlington’s elementary schools and 3 of its middle schools (grades 6-8).
When I asked Chris what the key to growing the program was he told me it isn’t money, mind you he wouldn’t turn the money down, but he stressed cash isn’t the answer. “I need help coaching and training parents,“ he said. “The AFL has made huge strides in the right direction with the AFLCommunityClub.com.au and the online Auskick coaching course. But the more we can educate the parents about the game the more scope there is to grow the interest.”
While the major US sports remain massive at so many levels there are no major participation programs operated by any of them that attract and nurture the grassroots support like Auskick does for AFL.
The commitment from people like Chris Adams to AFL is just as strong as any Auskick coordinator throughout Australia; it’s just that he has the challenge of building an Auskick program that can continue to engage Americans with or without Australians driving it.
When I asked Chris is it possible grow the game in the US he said, “The biggest thing is for the AFL, state leagues, amateur leagues and the community clubs to open their minds.”
That’s a fair call, as every time we try and enter an international market we are asking the locals the same thing, to “open their minds” to our great game.
More photos HERE.
Peter Schwab is a 3-time Premiership player with Hawthorn, former Hawthorn Head Coach and current AFL Coaching Director.
