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Words: Charlie Shannon
Photos: Dave Russell
January 27th, 2010
KARRAKS AWARDS NIGHT
The Katherine Football Academy gathered to celebrate its second year of operation and farewell the programme's first two Year 12 leavers.
Kirsten Hunter capped a hugely successful year in taking out the Award for Excellence at the Katherine Football Academy’s Award Night, held at the YMCA in December.
The night was highlighted by the presence of NT Thunder stars Cameron Ilett, Mark McLean and Karl Lohde who presented a number of awards and spoke to the boys about getting the best out of themselves regardless of what path they choose in life.
Hunter’s committed approach to both sport and study, along with his contribution as a role model to the younger academy members made the Year 12 a well-deserved winner of the KFA’s top award.
The honour followed Hunter’s earlier claim of Best and Fairest for the senior group, narrowly edging out Robbie Braun, while Keelan Fejo was best for the Year 10s ahead of Glen Lindner.
In Year 9, Kayle Kossack was recognised for an outstanding year of football, taking the best and fairest out from newcomer Phillip O’Keefe as Clinton McDonald (Year 8) and Caleb Clyden (Year 7) were gonged ahead of Loy Fordham (Year 8) and Travis Fisher (Year 7) respectively.
For school attendance, Year 12 student Donald Johnson claimed the senior award with an attendance for the year of 92.20%, while Jamie Walker claimed the Year 10 award, recording 95.38% attendance.
In Year 9, Grant Hayley backed up his 2008 attendance honour with another strong result of 98.84%, while George Maroney (99.42%) excelled in Year 8 and Kieren Hayley (96.53%) was on top in Year 7.
The Deadly Bloke awards are given each year in recognition of academy members whose contribution to academy life, beyond football, is deserving of recognition.
With this in mind, it was impossible to go past Henry Braun for the seniors, after the Year 11 student worked extremely hard to turn his life around in 2009 and re-engage in school life.
The Year 10 Deadly went to another very popular choice, Eddie Smiler, while Lawrence Watego claimed the Year 9 trophy, Cleven Woods was presented with the Year 8 award and Dean Watson that for Year 7.
Donovan Mota was another to earn rapturous applause from the gathering of boys, parents, school staff and local supporters as he claimed the Coaches' Award after a really make the most out of academy life over the school year.
Keelan Fejo picked up a second award in special recognition of his selection for the Flying Boomerangs Young Indigenous AFL representative team, while Liam Castine (NT Athletics team for Pan Pacific Games) and Damian Williams (All Australian selection at the National AFL Under 16 Championships) were also honoured.
The Katherine Football Academy’s second Awards Night was a very positive end to a highly successful year for the programme, which saw its members achieve high levels on the sporting field and in the classroom.
The evening gave the KFA an opportunity to farewell the programme’s first two Year 12 graduates, Kirsten Hunter and Donald Johnson, the pair having secured a traineeship and an apprenticeship respectively for 2010. In terms of role models, these two young men are a perfect example of what can be achieved by a sustained effort at school.
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