Ghost Dog
20-12-2012, 05:30 PM
Hey Woofers
Posted here are answers to a few questions by Kiemi Lai our hard working Community Engagement manager, who I had the pleasure of working with earlier in the year.
I must say, I was impressed by her professionalism and patience with the students in my care.
It made me more interested to know more about her wider role, and the WB has kindly allowed me to post her answers here.
I'm hoping for more of these sorts of interviews in the future, that shine a light on important people at the club, unsung heroes of the club, who may not ordinarily be in the media limelight, but nevertheless work very hard to keep the machine in operation.
What is your position at the Dogs? Can you describe your role?
I’m the community engagement manager. I am one of 9 full time staff in the Club’s community department – SpiritWest services. The SpiritWest team delivers community engagement, education and training programs for underrepresented or marginalised groups and people in Melbourne’s west including people with a disability, youth at risk, migrants and refugees. My role predominately involves working on social-inclusion type projects using footy and sport in general to teach life skills, improve health and wellbeing, increase social connectedness and Australian culture for new arrivals. It’s difficult to describe my role in detail because no one day is the same. The role included directly delivering sports programs, taking young people on excursions and camps, running youth leadership programs as well as networking with other community service providers and stakeholders in the region and advocating for better service provision for the target groups we work with.
Who is the most popular player at the moment with the community groups? Who is king of the kids!
Our target groups – even those that know nothing about football – are not too dissimilar to the general AFL fan when it comes to picking their favourite players – they tend to be the most high profile ones they see on TV. For example Barry Hall was a huge favourite when he was at our club even to people who had never seen an AFL game or knew anything about football. The newly arrived kids (and adults) tend to warm to the ‘big’ players – the tall guys that they can (literally) look up to and has an immediate presence when they walk into a room or to a clinic because of their size - players such as Will Minson, Jordan Roughead, etc – the key position players. All kids (regardless of how long they’ve followed football) at the moment seem to love Luke Dalhaus and a lot people we take to the football for the first time would often ask who is the player with the long hair. He’s the first player they notice on the field.
What were some of your highlights for 2012?
The club developed a very successful young men’s project in 2012 targeting Muslim youth in Hobsons Bay. The project “More than a Game” was aimed at building community resilience through sport and football in particular. The project exceeded all expectations with a group of young people forming the “MUJU” Peace club, inspired by the AFL Peace Team’s visit to Whitten Oval in late 2011. The team included a mix of Jewish and Muslim young people and they went onto win the annual “Unity Cup” run by the AFP and the AFL. the Club recently received a Victorian Multicultural Award in Excellence for this project.
What do you find most satisfying about your job?
It is good to know that you are making a difference to people’s lives in some small way and feel like you are contributing to the local community. The Western region is such a diverse and rewarding place to work in especially in the community development sector. I really enjoy meeting new people and finding out about their journeys and experiences of settling and living in Australia. The stories of some of the people we meet, the refugees in particular, are so amazing and inspiring. A lot of people that have grown up in Australia or live outside places like the western region really take for granted the things they know and have access to; especially when it comes to sport.
What's the most challenging aspect?
It’s hard to define the most challenging aspect – there’s lots of things and lots of situations that can be challenging at times. One part of my role is to engage with people from non-English speaking backgrounds and teach them about sport but the other part of the role is engage with established communities, sporting clubs and people that were born and raised in Australia so that can understand the issues facing migrants, refugees and other underrepresented groups so that they can better accommodate and welcome them into their services, clubs or into the general community. This second part is just as challenging, if not more so, than overcoming issues such as language when you are working with people from non-english speaking backgrounds.
AFL must be a hard game to explain to new arrivals I guess. What's the hardest part for them to figure out?
It is an extremely hard game to explain - With a sport like AFL you have to explain all the different rules and the rules that even the general football fan don’t really understand like ‘prior opportunity’ and deliberate out of bounds, holding the man. We try to keep it as simple as possible and stick to the main rules. When it comes to teaching new arrivals how to play the game, the hardest part for them to figure out is how to handball – their natural reaction when someone comes running up to tackle them is to throw the ball away rather than kick or handballing. In terms of watching the game, the hardest part to figure out is not so much about the rules but about the nuances of the game and all the ‘strange’ things that you don’t see in many other sports like the umpiring pointing in the opposite direction when it’s your free kick, the boundary umpires throwing the ball in backwards from the boundary line (people going to the game for the first time thinks this is hilarious), the runners running on and off the field, etc.
How are the community programs linked to the success of the club?
We are proud to be the “Community Club” of the AFL and our community programs play a vital role in ensuring we continue to be the community club. Our community programs are about building a stronger, healthier, engaged community in Western region of Melbourne (our heartland) by working with underrepresented individuals and groups, community partners and services and building community harmony with the broader community. Ultimately, a successful, healthy and sustainable western region will mean a healthier, successful football club that is based in the heartland of Melbourne’s west.
Thanks Kiemi
I have to add that the students I have all work fairly tiring cleaning jobs, study during the day and just don't have the money to participate in some of the things that the club has helped them do. However, in the future, some of them go on to be very successful in the community, as migrants tend to adapt and grow their wealth. So the Bulldogs are really engaging with and supporting younger people in the community, of which the club is a part, in important ways.
Posted here are answers to a few questions by Kiemi Lai our hard working Community Engagement manager, who I had the pleasure of working with earlier in the year.
I must say, I was impressed by her professionalism and patience with the students in my care.
It made me more interested to know more about her wider role, and the WB has kindly allowed me to post her answers here.
I'm hoping for more of these sorts of interviews in the future, that shine a light on important people at the club, unsung heroes of the club, who may not ordinarily be in the media limelight, but nevertheless work very hard to keep the machine in operation.
What is your position at the Dogs? Can you describe your role?
I’m the community engagement manager. I am one of 9 full time staff in the Club’s community department – SpiritWest services. The SpiritWest team delivers community engagement, education and training programs for underrepresented or marginalised groups and people in Melbourne’s west including people with a disability, youth at risk, migrants and refugees. My role predominately involves working on social-inclusion type projects using footy and sport in general to teach life skills, improve health and wellbeing, increase social connectedness and Australian culture for new arrivals. It’s difficult to describe my role in detail because no one day is the same. The role included directly delivering sports programs, taking young people on excursions and camps, running youth leadership programs as well as networking with other community service providers and stakeholders in the region and advocating for better service provision for the target groups we work with.
Who is the most popular player at the moment with the community groups? Who is king of the kids!
Our target groups – even those that know nothing about football – are not too dissimilar to the general AFL fan when it comes to picking their favourite players – they tend to be the most high profile ones they see on TV. For example Barry Hall was a huge favourite when he was at our club even to people who had never seen an AFL game or knew anything about football. The newly arrived kids (and adults) tend to warm to the ‘big’ players – the tall guys that they can (literally) look up to and has an immediate presence when they walk into a room or to a clinic because of their size - players such as Will Minson, Jordan Roughead, etc – the key position players. All kids (regardless of how long they’ve followed football) at the moment seem to love Luke Dalhaus and a lot people we take to the football for the first time would often ask who is the player with the long hair. He’s the first player they notice on the field.
What were some of your highlights for 2012?
The club developed a very successful young men’s project in 2012 targeting Muslim youth in Hobsons Bay. The project “More than a Game” was aimed at building community resilience through sport and football in particular. The project exceeded all expectations with a group of young people forming the “MUJU” Peace club, inspired by the AFL Peace Team’s visit to Whitten Oval in late 2011. The team included a mix of Jewish and Muslim young people and they went onto win the annual “Unity Cup” run by the AFP and the AFL. the Club recently received a Victorian Multicultural Award in Excellence for this project.
What do you find most satisfying about your job?
It is good to know that you are making a difference to people’s lives in some small way and feel like you are contributing to the local community. The Western region is such a diverse and rewarding place to work in especially in the community development sector. I really enjoy meeting new people and finding out about their journeys and experiences of settling and living in Australia. The stories of some of the people we meet, the refugees in particular, are so amazing and inspiring. A lot of people that have grown up in Australia or live outside places like the western region really take for granted the things they know and have access to; especially when it comes to sport.
What's the most challenging aspect?
It’s hard to define the most challenging aspect – there’s lots of things and lots of situations that can be challenging at times. One part of my role is to engage with people from non-English speaking backgrounds and teach them about sport but the other part of the role is engage with established communities, sporting clubs and people that were born and raised in Australia so that can understand the issues facing migrants, refugees and other underrepresented groups so that they can better accommodate and welcome them into their services, clubs or into the general community. This second part is just as challenging, if not more so, than overcoming issues such as language when you are working with people from non-english speaking backgrounds.
AFL must be a hard game to explain to new arrivals I guess. What's the hardest part for them to figure out?
It is an extremely hard game to explain - With a sport like AFL you have to explain all the different rules and the rules that even the general football fan don’t really understand like ‘prior opportunity’ and deliberate out of bounds, holding the man. We try to keep it as simple as possible and stick to the main rules. When it comes to teaching new arrivals how to play the game, the hardest part for them to figure out is how to handball – their natural reaction when someone comes running up to tackle them is to throw the ball away rather than kick or handballing. In terms of watching the game, the hardest part to figure out is not so much about the rules but about the nuances of the game and all the ‘strange’ things that you don’t see in many other sports like the umpiring pointing in the opposite direction when it’s your free kick, the boundary umpires throwing the ball in backwards from the boundary line (people going to the game for the first time thinks this is hilarious), the runners running on and off the field, etc.
How are the community programs linked to the success of the club?
We are proud to be the “Community Club” of the AFL and our community programs play a vital role in ensuring we continue to be the community club. Our community programs are about building a stronger, healthier, engaged community in Western region of Melbourne (our heartland) by working with underrepresented individuals and groups, community partners and services and building community harmony with the broader community. Ultimately, a successful, healthy and sustainable western region will mean a healthier, successful football club that is based in the heartland of Melbourne’s west.
Thanks Kiemi
I have to add that the students I have all work fairly tiring cleaning jobs, study during the day and just don't have the money to participate in some of the things that the club has helped them do. However, in the future, some of them go on to be very successful in the community, as migrants tend to adapt and grow their wealth. So the Bulldogs are really engaging with and supporting younger people in the community, of which the club is a part, in important ways.