Truly inclusive
Australia Post Multicultural Ambassador Ryan Kuperholz, organised an AFL footy clinic for his Jew Crew male and female teams to demonstrate multicultural inclusion and gender equality…
But 19-yr-old Ryan wanted his footy clinic to be truly inclusive, so with the blessing of Collingwood Football Club, he contacted Melbourne’s Jewish Care and Maccabi All Abilities.
Twenty community members people with varying abilities arrived from Manders Villas Independent Living, Jewish Care’s supported accommodation houses and family homes to practise their footy skills and tour the footy club. Meanwhile, despite VCE, SACS and university exams, seven members of the Jew Crew shared their time and skills
Harmit Singh, Collingwood’s Community Engagement Officer treated everyone to a tour of the multimillion dollar Holden Centre facility including the state of the art gymnasium, pool and altitude room which can mimic the low oxygen levels at high altitudes.
Ryan and his brother Joel, both AFL Multicultural Ambassadors and Game Development Officers for the AFL, ran the skills clinic with the help of Harmit and the Jew Crew players.
The participants tried their hands at handballing, marking, throwing and kicking.
Ryan Kuperholz said:”The atmosphere was fantastic, with feelings of pure joy, accomplishment, satisfaction, encouragement and friendship. Everyone took pride and pleasure in the efforts of their partners and participants.
I am so thankful for the help from Jordan Sandler, Jordan Walsh, Dakota Lipton, Ryan Rothschild and Greg Leibowitz for giving up precious study time to bring fun and connection to our often forgotten community members.
I could never have planned such an ambitious, large-scale and uplifting event without them”.
He was also grateful for the help from Shari Cohen at Maccabi All Abilities and Jayson Hurvitz from Jewish Care for convincing their clients to participate.
