bubbanoble: Swans Clinic

These school holidays had the Swans Clinic come around again. Daniel and Alexander were quite excited about going to it. Eliza wasn't keen at all and was letting us know about it. She didn't want to go onto the field and do the skills. I kept telling her that she didn't have to but she would need to stay with me and just watch because that was what I was going to do. Each time I said that she then responded with 'fine... I'll go on the field'. This year the clinic was held on the training grounds outside the SCG instead of on the ground. It made for a much better set up, even though it was a bit sad that the kids weren't running around on the SCG.

When we arrived the kids got their arm bands and then we headed over to do the inflatable obstacle course. They were keen for it to be a jumping castle but were happy to give the course a go. Daniel and Eliza went against each other. Alexander needed help to get over the first part but he did it well too. They loved it so had a few goes on it.

They then were excited to see Cyggy and give him a hug. Alexander took a while to go in for the hug because he was excited to show Cyggy that he had a Cyggy on his shirt.

It was great to have Dad come along with us again to watch the kids. It was really helpful because I told Eliza and Alexander that I would be watching them so I stood down near them and Dad was able to follow Daniel and watch him do the skills.
Eliza and Alexander headed onto the field first. I told Eliza that she needed to look after Alexander and she took that role on well.

They started with some warm up drills.

The kids were then split into groups to do their activities. Having them on the training fields was a lot better because the parents could stand close to the kids and the kids could easily come over to the fence if they needed to. Ollie Florrent was with the young kids, but he moved with one of the groups so Eliza and Alexander didn't get to do activities with him.

Their first activity was to run around the poles with the ball. Alexander didn't quite grasp the concept...

Alexander's favourite activity was next where they had to run, jump, step through the orange hexagons with the ball and also tap the ball in the hexagons. He surprised me with how well he did the jumps.

He had a big grin on his face as he looked over to me.

Next up was Eliza's favourite activity with the hurdles. She enjoyed stepping and jumping over them.

Then their last activity was handballing. While they waited to start Alexander was a bit star struck because he could see Allir Allir. Alexander waved to him but he didn't see.

Eliza was nervous about doing the handballing because she doesn't really know how to do it. I was extremely proud of her having a go! And she was getting it toward the end. Alexander also didn't really understand handballing and preferred to throw but he did start to get it towards the end too.

While the little kids did their smaller rotation, Daniel was moving around the larger field with a variety of Swans players. He started with goal kicking with Zac.

His favourite activity was doing a little obstacle course.

He also worked on his kicking and catching.

He got to do some goal kicking with Allir too.

The kids then lined up to get signatures from the different players. There were some that the kids were keen to meet. Alexander was very excited to meet Allir. Unfortunately when he got to meet Allir, he received a phone call on his watch so was a little bit distracted when Alexander got to meet him. Oh well. He still got his signature.

Daniel was keen to get Luke Parker's signature

Daniel was happy to line up and get Buddy's signature, while Alexander and Eliza weren't quite so keen. Dad stayed with Daniel while I took Eliza and Alexander to get their faces painted.

Eliza and Alexander couldn't resist another cuddle with Cyggy

My little unicorn

Pokeball

Issac

Buddy

Having a chat with Rampe

Signature from captain JK

Daniel was very keen to get his face painted too. He asked for a Pokeball... unfortunately it turned out to be a swan. Oh well. He still liked it.

The day finished with a sausage sandwich which the kids each enjoyed. Overall each of them really enjoyed the day. Eliza said she is keen to do it again next year (I hope she remembers saying that).