Nellie Hicks, future leader in the making
Over the school holiday period, 180 youth aged players from across New South Wales and the ACT completed the AFL Future Leaders Community Program, organised by AFL NSWACT.
The program was broken into two groups, aspiring leaders (13-15 years old) and emerging leaders (16-18 years old), with both groups completing an online module before participating in three zoom conferences. The topics covered included:
- Leadership Style
- Personal Brand
- Leading through Communication were presented.
The AFL Future Leaders Program was conducted by the Institute of Sport, who AFL NSWACT engaged as a specialist in this field.
South Coast Regional Manager, Matt Graham, was thrilled with the program.
“At the AFL, we not only want our players to become better players, but we want them to become better people. The AFL Future Leaders Program has enabled us to further develop local role models, who will then go back to their clubs and share this knowledge with their teammates.”
AFL South Coast’s Nellie Hicks, from the Kiama Power, was one of the program’s participants.
“I have really enjoy getting involved with Aussie Rules on the South Coast in the past couple of years, not only playing but coaching and assisting in other areas as well. When I saw the opportunity to participate in the AFL Future Leaders Program I was really excited to get involved and broaden my knowledge on the topic. I am really glad I took part and can’t wait to utilise the skills I have learnt.”
Nellie found the program invaluable, stating that, “I learnt a lot about myself through completing this program but what I found most interesting was the modules on personal branding and what makes a good leader. It has led to a lot of self-reflection and I have noted the aspects of myself which I want to improve on.”
Nellie thoroughly enjoyed talking part in the AFL Future Leaders Program, claiming, “The best part of the program was definitely getting to meet and interact with likeminded people from my age group all across the state and hear their opinions and ideas about a range of topics. I hope we can all meet sometime in the future!:
AFL NSWACT facilitated this program as an opportunity to further develop the leadership skills of youth footballers, whilst the football void left by COVID-19 has delayed the start of the 2020 Season.
