Coober Pedy Area School, Marree Aboriginal School and Oodnadatta Aboriginal School - Coober Pedy students catch up with Byron ‘Choppy’ Pickett
The Port Adelaide Football Club travelled for the second time this year with Rex Airlines to visit the Aboriginal Power Cup (APC) students from Coober Pedy on Thursday 10th May 2011.
The students were greeted by Byron (Choppy) Pickett, Amy & Pauly and although we weren’t able to arrange for the students from Marree & Oodnadatta Aboriginal School to attend our visit, the Coober Pedy students were outstanding.
We began the day with introductions and had students tell us where they came from and where they have a connection to land with. Some of the places the students had a connection with included;
- Coober Pedy (Yankuntatjara)
- Ceduna (Wirangu)
- Adelaide (Kaurna) and
- Arnhem Land (Yolungu)
Pauly talked about Arnhem Land and the cultural significance of that place and the birth place of the Yidaki (didgeridoo) and where the Power’s Danyle Motlop has connection with.
The Goal Setting activity was the first discussion with the group and we asked the students to come up with their team and individual goals for the APC program. The students came up with some great team goals for APC program, which we’ll send back to them to stick up in their room, so they see them every time they enter the room.
Choppy spoke about his time having to move from Port Lincoln to Adelaide and then to Melbourne for his dreams of playing AFL football and how difficult that was being away from family and friends, but knew he wanted to achieve his goals and dreams, so he had to make those sacrifices.
We then had a lengthy discussion on their career aspirations and encouraged them to tell us some of their interests. There were some mixtures of career interest some of which included;
- Army
- Game Developer (iPhone apps)
- Carpenter
- Mining
- Mechanic
Pauly discussed the P-Plate program and the life/work skills activities in the APC booklet, and explained the importance of getting a job / career when their schooling finishes creating their own independence.
We finished in the class room and headed outside for some football drills and skills. We had a competition on the student who could mark the ball and they’ll win a prize. This was highly competitive, but unfortunately the ball kept spilling out from the pack and no one took a mark. It was a very funny session.
We had a chance to then visit all the year 8 students, who were very happy that we came in and disrupted their maths class (haha). They asked a lot of questions and we even had some great debates about who they should be barracking for.
“I love being involved in the Aboriginal Power Cup program and I really enjoyed travelling to Coober Pedy and spending time with the student and their community”. Byron ‘Choppy’ Pickett
We would like to thank the students and teachers from Coober Pedy for hosting us and we will see you all soon.
Good luck for the rest of the year.
