Claremont Football Club hits Great Southern for pre-season camp with GSFLW players and coaches

Aspiring female football players and coaches from the region showed strong support at Claremont Football Club’s pre-season coaching and training program on Saturday. Claremont’s WAWFL and Rogers Cup squads attended Retravision Stadium on Saturday as part of their pre-season camp to boost relationships within their catchment zone Some Great Southern Football League Women’s players were also invited to train with the league and Rogers Cup sides on Saturday. Albany Sharks duo Samantha Waltho and Marlee Ashton were both in attendance vying for a spot in the league team alongside former GSFLW player Taylah Orzel (Royals). Claremont Women’s League coach Jack Schwarze said he has keenly observed a notable improvement in the pool of impressive talent emerging from the GSFLW within the Claremont football ranks. “We’ve got a number of girls, who have been part of the academy, that have been playing in the GSFLW and been invited up to be a part of our Rogers Cup squad in the past,” Schwarze said. “A couple have already started coming up to Perth and been a part of this pre-season so they are well on it and ready to go. “But the talent coming through is really impressive and they’re working hard.” Schwarze held a coaches information session for GSFL coaches on Saturday morning to help streamline the coaching style and techniques between Claremont and their regional feeder associations. “That’s where we’re really happy to expose our program to the coaches down here to say: this is what we’re doing and this is how we sort of see footy,” he said. “Hopefully we can pass that on to them, but ultimately, we just want to provide them with the tools to be able to make their own decisions. “We don’t necessarily need them to be playing a Claremont brand of footy, but the more they know about what we do and how we do it, the intricacies of a program, the more they can build their program. “So the more girls that do come up have a bit of an idea of what it is expected.” The club ran introductory clinics in Mt Barker, Denmark and Albany on Friday that were aimed at pre-primary to Year 6 students in a bid to encourage the growth of football in the Great Southern region. “It’s massive for us in the sense that it’s been happening in the men’s side for a while and now we’re just trying to get the girls to the same levels,” Schwarze said. “But also, obviously increasing the standard, but also increasing the participation numbers. “Whatever we can do to sort of build it down here is the best thing for women’s footy, but it also helps the pathway up to us as well. “We want to give them an actual direct pathway so that they know how to get up here.”