25 Years of Helping Young People

This year marks AFL SportsReady’s big 25-year milestone and we thought, what better way to honour our company’s history, then to hold a birthday celebration lunch at Marvel Stadium.

The event commemorates 25 years of helping young Australians develop careers through training and education and pays tribute to those people and stakeholders who have supported us along the way.

We couldn’t be prouder of the impact we are making on young people’s lives and here are just a few of those highlights over the past two decades:

· 16,000 young people have commenced a traineeship with AFL SportsReady since 1994

· 2,500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees have commenced since 2000

· 2,000 young people have participated in our school program across Australia

· 3,000 trainees have started their careers in the AFL industry

· 5,800 people have studied with SportsReady Education

“Pay it Forward” is the theme of the anniversary and is the key message for individuals and businesses to reflect upon.

Through our commitment in supporting young people, we hope that this 25-year milestone will encourage others to join the movement and pay it forward. People can do this by supporting our #payitforward campaign. You can create a job for a young person, donate to The Ready Foundation or spread the word about the work we are doing at AFL SportsReady.

The event was hosted by Australian Sports Broadcaster, Hamish McLachlan and a number of special guests were there to reflect on their own personal journey with AFL SportsReady. Special guests and speakers included, Senior Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy, AFL SportsReady founder Kevin Sheedy, Governor General of Victoria, The Honourable Linda Dessau, AC, AFL SportsReady Chair, The Honourable Justin Madden, AM and AFL Commissioner and SportsReady Board member, Simone Wilkie, AO.

It was then over to our panel of three former trainees; AFL Licensing Manager Jessica Tedge, Geelong Cats Multicultural Development Officer Titit Nyak and National Gallery of Victoria Audience Engagement Officer Kayla Clinch. The three alumni shared stories of their traineeship journey and how the program got them to where they are today.

To acknowledge the organisations who have given countless young people an opportunity to embark on their career journey, an award ceremony took place to honour our top 25 most valuable partners.

The employers/partners who were honoured at the event include:

The AFL Industry Partners

· AFL NSW/ACT

· AFL Queensland

· Brisbane Lions Football Club

· Collingwood Football Club

· Essendon Football Club

· Geelong Football Club

· Hawthorn Football Club ·

· Melbourne Football Club

· Port Adelaide Football Club ·

· Richmond Football Club

Indigenous Partners

· ANZ

· Australia Post

· Commonwealth Bank

· Kmart Australia

· National Australia Bank

National Partners

· Adelaide Shores

· Catholic College Sale

· Catholic College Wodonga

· City of Sydney

· JLT Australia

· Marcellin College

· Mount Lilydale Mercy College

· Victoria University

· Wonthaggi Secondary College

· YMCA Victoria

(Image of our top 10 National partners)

25 years means a lot to us, and we will continue to deliver the best possible outcomes for young Australians and all our partners. Thank you to everyone we work with. The outcomes we deliver are all a result of what we do together. Here’s to the next 25 years!

To learn more about AFL SportsReady’s 25-year milestone and how you can pay it forward click here.

To view all the photos from the event visit of Facebook page here.

Date: 29th of July 2019

Image: Panel of alumni members; Titit Nyak, Kayla Clinch and Jessica Tedge

Article: Marissa Pagliarello