THE Port Adelaide Football Club has launched its Australian-first Women’s Aboriginal AFL Academy with a breakfast at Alberton Oval.

Following the success over the past four years of the club’s Aboriginal AFL Academy for young men, the club has expanded the program to include a female-only academy.

The new program started last month with 29 girls in years 11 and 12 taking part in the weekly sessions.

Participants come from as far away as Darwin and Alice Springs as well as from across South Australia, including Port Augusta, Ceduna and parts of the Yorke Peninsula.

They will each complete a Certificate III in Fitness, which provides 100 SACE credits.

Port Adelaide’s Director of Aboriginal Programs Paul Vandenbergh said the Academy is the latest addition to the club’s suite of industry-leading programs for Aboriginal students, which focus on providing a quality educational experience for participants.

“We always knew football would be popular in the female Aboriginal community, we just had to create the pathway and platform," Mr Vandenbergh said.

“What we learned in the boys’ academy we’ve been able to transition to the girls and hopefully we are able to get some good educational outcomes.”

Port Adelaide’s industry-leading Aboriginal AFL Academy has achieved a 94% completion rate in its four years with four players drafted by AFL Clubs including Wayne Milera (Adelaide), Kym Lebois (Carlton), Tyson Stengle (Richmond) and Brandan Parfitt (Geelong).

Mr Vandenbergh said there had been a lot of interest in the academy, which also provides participants with a chance to refine their football skills with craft sessions.

He said he hoped some of the girls would be drafted by teams in the SANFL Women’s League or by teams in the AFLW, but he stressed that was not a priority.

“I can absolutely see some talented young footballers in this program and absolutely I can see some of them getting drafted.

“But what is more exciting for us is that we are actually helping build some really strong young women to become leaders in the community and we feel this program empowers them and gives them all sorts of opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have had.

"We would love to see some of the girls progress to the AFLW, and hopefully represent Port Adelaide when we get a license, but the education portion of our program is our priority.”

The Women’s Aboriginal AFL Academy is supported by the South Australian Aboriginal Sports Training Academy, the Department for Education and Child Development, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Energy Australia.

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