ARARAT community members of all ages turned out to catch a glimpse of Collingwood Football Club players on Wednesday morning.
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The Magpies were in town as part of a two-day community camp. Their activities in Ararat included a black and white gala dinner on Tuesday night, as well as a visit to the 70 Lowe Street aged care facility and conducting a round-robin football clinic with children at Alexandra Oval.
Speaking at 70 Lowe Street on Wednesday morning, East Grampians Health Service chief executive Nick Bush outlined the benefits of the players’ visit.
“For the residents of aged care, it gives them the opportunity to have a bit of entertainment that comes to the home and they’ve been engaged in today, which has been a good result for everybody,” Mr Bush said.
This has been the first time 70 Lowe Street has hosted such an occasion. It saw three Collingwood players –Alex Fasolo, Jesse White and Jonathon Marsh – lead a handball competition with a number of East Grampians care staff as well as conduct a question and answer session with residents.
“Historically, Ararat was a recruiting zone of Collingwood so there’s been some former footballers (visit) but we haven’t had this engagement at the local level,” Mr Bush said.
“I applaud the AFL and the Wimmera-Mallee commission on getting the players here because it’s been a great promotion.”
Mr Bush also praised the local council for the role it has played in the Collingwood visit to Ararat.
“Ararat Rural City has developed a facility that they could come to. They’ve now constructed Alexandra Oval and it’s an attractive venue for clubs, so the vision of the council has been great,” he said.
Collingwood midfielder, Alex Fasolo, spoke about the rewards reaped from these community camp visits.
“I think it’s just great, the boys look forward to it all year,” Fasolo said.
“It’s hard for us to get out to the country, so it’s good to come out to somewhere like Ararat and meet people who don’t generally interact with AFL players. It’s really good coming to the super clinics with the kids, who are always well-behaved and they enjoy themselves.”