Year in Review: Auskick
The 2013 Auskick season kicked off with a bang with the national NAB AFL Auskick season launched in Martin Place in Sydney.
Swans premiership players Josh Kennedy and Shane Mumford, and GWS GIANTS young guns Dylan Shiel and Stephen Coniglio, along with 15 local Auskickers, dropped by to perform a few drills with the Sunrise crew.
Over 47,000 kids across NSW and the ACT participated in NAB AFL Auskick in 2013, with more than 8,000 in club Auskick programs, 17,000 in after-school programs and 22,000 in schools.
The number of participants is the largest it has ever been, with NSW/ACT recording the highest number of participants across Australia.
3,174 club and after-school Auskickers participated in Half-Time Auskick at both Sydney Swans and GWS GIANTS home matches at the SCG, Skoda Stadium, ANZ Stadium and StarTrak Oval.
Three NSW/ACT Auskickers were rewarded as weekly winners of the NAB Auskicker of the Year.
Oscar Head from Easts Bulldogs, Emmalee Beggs from Concord GIANTS JAFC, and Shaun Hohnke from Gungahlin Jets, along with the other 19 NAB AFL Auskicker of the Year nominees, presented Hawthorn players with their Toyota AFL Premiership Medals at the 2013 Grand Final in Melbourne.
Hawthorn legend Shane Crawford made his first NSW appearance as NAB AFL Auskick Ambassador in August when he visited Auskickers in the Shoalhaven and Illawarra regions.
Crawford began his day at Shoalhaven Auskick Centre in Nowra, taking part in Auskick activities and running a clinic for the local kids, as well as presenting awards at the Shoalhaven Auskick end of year presentation.
Crawford followed this by participating in an Auskick Clinic at Hollymount Park in the Illawarra, and stayed on after the clinic to address Auskick participants and sign autographs for the crowd.
Easts Auskickers also hit the headlines when six sets of twins registered for their Auskick program this year amongst a record 150 participants.