Trainee Supports Grassroots Football in Queensland
AFL Queensland (AFLQ) Sunshine Coast trainee, India Madin, has been described by her host employer as a “friendly and succinct facilitator” who is a great benefit to the AFL Q team.
“India has a bubbly personality that our NAB AFL Auskickers love,” said India’s supervisor and AFL Development Coordinator, Stacey French.
“She has wonderful interactions with participants and is also confident when speaking to parents and teachers, making it easier for us to rely on her to run programs on her own.” She added.
India started her traineeship with AFLQ Sunshine Coast in 2019 as their Sports Development Officer and is completing a Certificate III in Sport and Recreation. Since coming on board the team, India has taken on various responsibilities including, running football workshops, coaching AFL Auskick and assisting the team with new AFL development projects.
“India is eager to learn more about what we do and contribute to the AFL Q culture. She gets involved in any way she can and puts 100% passion and commitment into everything she does,” explained Stacey.
“There is no doubt she is an asset to the team and the people we work with say the same thing. In fact, she is not only an asset to the AFL Q Sunshine Coast but the game itself.”
(India dressed up as Roy the lion)
AFL Q have employed over 243 trainees across the state and on the Sunshine Coast and believe the extra set of hands gives staff members more time to focus on developing the game.
“Having an AFL SportsReady trainee is a valuable strength to our organisation as we strive to grow AFL participants in Queensland.”
“They also teach us a lot about what to expect with the next generation of young people and provide valuable insight around what school programs they think would have been effective when they were at school.”
For trainees, they get to learn the ropes of the sporting industry giving them confidence and skills to progress in the field.
“I believe we have taught India and all our trainees a lot about time management, in particular work life balance. In an industry that sometimes has peculiar hours, we have worked with our trainees to teach them how to balance the demands of work and personal life to get positive outcomes on both sides.”
“We learn from each other and bounce ideas off one another, so the learning never stops when a trainee is on the team.”
Furthermore, trainees are trained and mentored so they are able to work alone and are trusted to do so.
“We have faith in everything India does so we give her programs to run and projects to manage and we have confidence she will produce high quality work. There are no worries on our end, and we can focus on the work we do.”
Ms French and the AFL Q Sunshine Coast team are keen to continue to work with the AFL SportsReady program in the future and provide more young people with an opportunity to get a head start in their career in sport.
“We would recommend AFL SportsReady because they provide unbelievable support for not only trainees but also to host organisations.”
DATE: 12th August 2019
ATUHOR: Marissa Pagliarello
IMAGE: India running an Auskick workshop on the Sunshine Coast
