Two Tasmania Devils stars have launched a football clinic program aimed at giving aspiring young Tasmanian players access to elite-level coaching during the school holidays.
Caleb Mitchell and Jye Menzie have created Tassie Rising Stars, which will bring their expertise to regional venues across the state to coach kids aged 8-14.
“It’s basically providing a platform for kids to get the best coaching they can as early as they can,” Mitchell told Pulse.
The program will feature specialised coaching from the two founders and other Devils VFL players, with each coach focusing on their strengths.
Sam Siggins will lead goal-kicking sessions, while former AFLW and incoming Devils VFLW player Meghan Gaffney will cover tackling and contested ball skills.
Mitchell, who relocated to Tasmania after being delisted from the Sydney Swans, said the clinics would give kids a direct connection to the Devils.
“Allowing them to see some of their favourite players and be coached by them is something that as a kid I know we’d both be really wrapped with,” he said.
For Hobart born-and-bred Jye Menzie, the program addresses a gap he experienced growing up.
“There was no real program here put in place to get to that real AFL level,” he told Pulse.
“[The] Hawks might have come down every now and then and done a clinic and I was footy mad, so I’d go to them every time.”
The first clinic will be held at Lauderdale on April 20, with sessions also planned for Cornelian Bay, Devonport and Brighton across the school holidays.
Menzie said the program could help develop future Devils players as the state prepares for entry into the AFL.
“We just want to teach them at the early age … whatever we can to help them in that pathway to get to where they want to be,” he said.
The launch comes after the two founders played in the first Tasmania Devils VFL games over the last two weekends, with crowds packing North Hobart Oval and Launceston’s UTAS Stadium.
Menzie described playing at his home ground of North Hobart in round one as “an epic feeling.”
“To see that ground packed out, I’d never seen anything like that in my lifetime,” he said.
“Tassie people in general have been crying out for this for so long and now we finally have it.”
Registration is now open through the Tassie Rising Stars website, with limited spots available for the three-hour sessions.
