After just one year as Coordinator at Craigieburn’s Auskick centre, Shane Ryan was recently named the NAB AFL Auskick Volunteer of the Year at AFL Victoria’s Community Football Awards.
Ryan’s proactive and positive attitude has contributed to a thriving Auskick centre, with an increasing number of participants and a community of kids whose passion for the game continues to grow.
Having spent three years at Craigieburn as a volunteer, Ryan stepped up to the role of Coordinator in 2018. Under his influence, the centre has grown to have over 230 participants – a large increase from previous years.
Ryan has been able to create a number of new partnership agreements that have helped provide every participant with their own Craigieburn Auskick guernsey, and was committed to ensuring a smooth and successful transition to a new curriculum and teaching the participants Auskick 2.0.
He provided participants with numerous grid/rules game experiences and created specific hard-copy templates instructing other volunteers on how to set up the ground according to numbers.
Ryan has also organised visits from prominent figures including AFL games-record-holder and former North Melbourne champion Brent Harvey as well as a host of AFL Women’s players.
While all involved at the Craigieburn centre can be proud of what has been achieved in the short period of time of his tenure as Coordinator, Ryan’s commitment and the way he conducts himself has local families excited about the centre’s future as well.
