Western Sydney’s Greatest Athletes crowned
Three lucky students and several teachers have been rewarded for their involvement in the inaugural edition of AFL NSW/ACT’s ‘Western Sydney’s Greatest Athlete’ competition.
Denis Tran and Emma Hannigan, both from Hurlstone Agricultural High School, took out the grand prizes, with Hannigan sharing the female honours with Ruth Saufoi from Sarah Redfern High School in Minto.
The students each took home a brand new Apple iPad Air, and a 2XU gift voucher for their efforts, while the teachers who nominated them scored an iPad of their own as well as $1000 worth of HART Sport credit.
AFL NSW/ACT in conjunction with 2XU compression offered male and female High School students aged between 13 and 18 the chance to put their name up in lights and bid for the title of the region’s ‘Greatest Athlete,’ earlier this year.
Teachers were invited to nominate their most talented students, with close to 150 nominations received from schools across Western Sydney.
From there students were invited to attend one of three initial combine testings, where they received an iTunes gift voucher and 2XU compression top, with the top 25 selected for the final combine at Sydney Olympic Park, and rewarded with further prizes.
The students were put through their paces across a variety of athletic disciplines, with testing mirroring that of the elite AFL Draft, including a 20m sprint, vertical leap, agility test, and shuttle run.
Several of the sizeable crop that underwent testing are being considered for the PM Capital GWS GIANTS Academy, with Academy coach Jason Saddington glowing in his praise of participants.
“Considering this was the first year this initiative has run, Western Sydney’s Greatest Athlete was a big success,” Saddington said.
“AFL football is not the predominant sport in the region, so the intention with the testing was to make it sport-neutral, the kids were judged purely on athletic testing results rather than ball skills or football aptitude.
“I was very impressed with a lot of athletes who attended the combines, with some of the 20m sprint results for example amongst the best I’ve ever seen, so the talent was apparent, and I’m sure the pool will grow in years to come as awareness of this great program is heightened.”
Information about next year’s Western Sydney Greatest Athlete competition will be distributed to schools by AFL NSW/ACT staff mid-2015.
From left to right: Hurlstone sport teacher Andrew Wilson, joint WSGA Female winner Emma Hannigan, PM Capital GIANTS Academy coach Jason Saddington, WSGA male winner Denis Tran.
