OHA Football Season 19 commences

Training for Season 19 has been going for a few weeks and numbers have been excellent. There is a real excitement around the group with training being conducted with a sense of urgency. The weather and brilliant surroundings certainly help.

Off the field, the appointments keep coming. Pat O’Leary is back in the coaching trenches, assisting Mark Seccull with the Reserves. Mark Thompson has been appointed “Director of Fun” meaning he will be co-ordinating the various social activities – a key role in any club. Hyxy will assume the role of General Manager Football, directing the traffic around football matters. Watch this space for further announcements as more appointments are made.

Av Kumar is once again heading up the medical team who are such an integral part of the club. The club is fortunate to have someone with Av’s experience involved at the club. He holds a Doctor of Physiotherapy from the University of Melbourne and Bachelor of Human Movement/Management from the University of Ballarat. Av is entering his 3rd season at Old Haileybury as the Head Physiotherapist.

Av has wide experience working across several sport codes including, Cycling Victoria National and State Championships since 2014, Cricket Victoria National Championships since 2016 and Melbourne United from 2016.

He is also involved with the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) in a leadership role on Emergency Department Victorian Committee since 2015, primarily helping with professional development for emergency related physiotherapy.

Av has a research role with Latrobe University, helping the Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre in their quest to understand anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) rehabilitation.
As he enters his 3rd year with Old Haileybury he is planning to improve the Allied Health team with a few key developments:

Improved concussion management across all teams, with the introduction of a screen program and concussion prevention strategies
Improved injury prevention programs to include injury screening and injury prevention exercises incorporated into training and matches
Greater professional development for all trainers, physiotherapists and students involved at the club.

Club wide implementation of an athlete monitoring system which tracks soreness, fatigue, exertion and other key indicators
Further use of player GPS for all teams to improve training and strength and conditioning functions at the club

Av is passionate about improving and growing our services that we offer each player at Old Haileybury. The players are in good hands.

We are also pleased to announce that we shall be able to use more of the facilities at Princes Park when we return in March. We shall have greater use of the gym area off the home game rooms allowing us to create our own vibrant environment. This will be of great benefit to the players in particular, but indeed everyone will welcome the additional space.

Next week, we shall let you know details of the practice games.

On the jobs front Premiership Player Dave Mason is looking for a landscaper/labourer to work for his burgeoning business.

The club is also looking for another physio. This role would be well suited to a new graduate looking to gain experience, mentoring and sports involvement.

Please email [email protected] if interested in either of these roles.

Magenta and Black – worn with pride in Engawala, NT

We received a photograph of an Engawala women’s footy team wearing Magenta and Black!

We were very excited to have received a photo of the girls’ footy team at Engawala, north of Alice Springs. The girls are wearing the Magenta and Black jumpers, which one of our community members had organised due to connections with the local community.

It is great seeing the colours being worn with such pride. Given the School now has the Rendall School Darwin, it won’t be long before the OHAFC has alumni from the NT playing for us, further strengthening the connection.