ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ

Local stars in soccer clinics

Football stars, Rani Cavarretta (shown above) and Ben Hamlett recently undertook a series of visits to ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ to promote AIA Vitality MiniRoos football, a smaller version of the game that is designed for students aged between 5 and 12 who are learning the game.

‘The students had a blast!’ said ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ’s Head of HPE Mr Cameron Golding. ‘We really appreciated the support of Football Federation Tasmania (FFT) in delivering a quality program to our Prep-Year 6 students.’

FFT’s MiniRoos Development Officer Ben Horgan explained that AIA Vitality MiniRoos aims to give all kids a safe, friendly and fun introduction to football. ‘The smaller game formats simplify the game and each child gets more touches of the ball, making it a great way for them to learn regardless of size or ability,’ he said.

Rani Cavarretta and Ben Hamlett led the students through a number of fun game-based activities to introduce them to the different core skills. Rani, 22, is FFT’s Women’s Development Officer and flies to Melbourne every week where she plays with the newly crowned Victorian Women’s Premier League champions Boroondara Eagles. Rani is one of Tasmania’s leading female footballers and spent a number of very successful seasons playing with Hobart’s Olympia Warriors women’s team.

FFT Participation Officer Ben Hamlett, 23, is a striker/midfielder with the Victory League’s South Hobart team, who have enjoyed enormous success over the past few years. Ben returned to Tasmania two years ago after a stint in US college football with NCAA Division 1 teams Grand Canyon University and Mountain State University.

Ben and Rani both have an infectious passion for the game and they strive to pass that on to the students.

‘We’ve had a fantastic few days at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ over two weeks and it was great to see the enthusiasm to get in and have a go. There are already some very good young players here. I know some are playing club football with Dominic’s school teams, and others are in the Skill Acquisition Programs at Glenorchy Knights, Hobart Zebras and South Hobart. Most pleasing of all is the way many of the kids who haven’t played football before threw themselves into it and really enjoyed their first experience of the world game. We’d love to see these kids stay involved in the game by joining their local AIA Vitality MiniRoos club.’