Mr Weston and his team ” Westo’s Warriors ” left on Wednesday morning for a week-long footy adventure that will include visits to a number of AFL clubs’ training facilities, playing two matches against the Dynamic Footy Skills (DFS) combined team, being put through the same DFS training tests as AFL draft nominees and taking in three live AFL games.
The trip is the culmination of 12 months’ training, work and fundraising, with a combination of private sponsorships and fundraising activities raising more than $55,000 to make the trip a reality.
‘People said I was wasting my time and that we’d never do it,’ Mr Weston said.
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READ NOW‘Some parents even pulled their kids out because they thought we needed to raise an insurmountable amount and were getting their poor kids’ hopes up; you can imagine how pleasing it is that we are going.’
Despite training together for most of the past year in preparation for the trip, Westo’s Warriors only played their first match together as a team last Wednesday afternoon against a combined team of local junior players.
Head coach Scott Goodrick said most of the team played for a local club as well, so had the necessary skills, but the scratch match gave them an added awareness of what their teammates were capable of and sharing the ball together.
‘A lot of (the players) have fallen on hardship and others act as mentors, but they’re all passionate about their footy and hopefully going to Melbourne will make them even more passionate and determined,’ Mr Goodrick said.
Both Mr Weston and Mr Goodrick said the efforts of all parties to raise funds for the trip made them hopeful of it becoming an annual event.