The West Coast Eagles welcomed more than 200 aspiring AFLW players to a training clinic yesterday in Mount Claremont.

The primary and high school-aged participants had the chance to learn from the best, with West Coast’s Female Academy members putting the youngsters through a range of football drills.

Ashtyn Boyd, 11, from Nyabing travelled over three hours to attend the school holiday clinic

 “They don’t have a football team in Nyabing, so Ashtyn has to travel to Gnowangerup to train every Thursday, plus travelling to matches each week,” Ashtyn’s grandmother Astrea explained.

“When her mother found out the clinic was on, we thought it was a great opportunity.”

The strong response to the female holiday clinic follows the building excitement for the launch of West Coast’s AFLW team in 2020.

Recent AFLW recruit Rosie Deegan was thrilled to see such a great show of support amongst the crowd.

“I think it was such an amazing experience not only for the Female Academy players to give back to the community, but for the kids to get involved with the club, enjoy the sport and for us to engage with them from a really young age,” Deegan said.

The opportunity for young girls to train in a dedicated clinic is something Deegan could only have dreamed about growing up.

“This is all relatively new. I did some training with my brothers, but it was a boy’s camp, not necessarily meant for girls,” Deegan explained.

“This is really showing how far the game has come, that we can have an all-girls event and have over 200 kids show up and be really engaged in the sport; it just shows the future of football is really bright.”

If you’d like more information on the launch of AFLW in 2020, register your interest below!

Click here to register your interest in a West Coast Eagles AFLW membership!