CASE STUDY
Supersport
A co-designed, co-delivered program with St Kilda Football Club and Holmesglen Institute that offers girls the chance to combine sports technology with communications.
Partnership
We know that many girls often disengage with STEM subjects by the end of Year 8. Negative perceptions of their own abilities, their confidence to lead in a classroom environment and limited opportunity for them to apply technologies in real-world scenarios contribute to them opting out and limiting their future options.
Concurrently, girls are falling in love with AFLW. They are playing, supporting and contributing to a sporting code that is smashing societal barriers, harnessing technologies and fostering empowerment and self-worth.
Monash Tech School is constantly generating new ways to engage students with technology in a meaningful and accessible way. It is both a challenge and a privilege to design Industry Immersion events that support student insights.
Partnering with St Kilda Football Club and Holmesglen Institute, International Women’s Day was the perfect date to unpack technologies, talk pathways and explore individuals’ potential in an AFLW environment.
Program
The girls enjoyed three rotations throughout the day.
St Kilda AFLW’s dedicated players, facilities and Club staff were dedicated to the Industry Immersion for the day. Led by Captain Hannah Priest, the girls enjoyed the Elite Energy session, which discussed physical and mental health, sleep hygiene, nutrition and lifestyle. Practical examples of how data were used to evaluate and improve choices and performance were provided.
The girls used Catapult Technology whilst playing friendly AFL 9s games. This generated data, which the girls learned how to download, access and analyse. Students reflected on how they think they performed and compared their self-analysis to how the technology captured their performance.
The friendly 9s was also an opportunity for Holmesglen Institute’s current Advanced Diploma in Sports Management students to organise and facilitate. This was a great way for the girls to learn more about Vocational Education pathways at Holmesglen Institute whilst enjoying a supportive sports activity in a really safe and encouraging environment.
The final rotation was delivered by Holmesglen Institute Sports Media Lecturer Davin Sgargetta alongside some student representatives from the course. The Holmesglen students spoke about their own study journeys in Sports Media which complimented the presentation of course information by Davin. The social media activity followed, with the students using their own data alongside social media briefs to create an Instagram post. Students worked together to construct content and images that linked data to different storylines, such as rising star awards, sponsorship deals and a team rebrand.
There was a sense of community in the room as the posts were displayed on the screen, with the girls being happy to share their work and excited to see what others had come up with. To tie the day together, the girls were asked to write one word on a purple card summarising their feelings about IWD and their Supersport experience. The positivity of the affirmations on the cards was overwhelming.
Supersport was always focused on demonstrating the links between sport, self-awareness, technology and opportunities. The partnership carefully weaved themes of empowerment, self-belief, self-reflection, technology and the power of making informed decisions about pathway opportunities. It demonstrated that girls don’t have to be elite sports players to enjoy a rewarding, satisfying career in an AFLW Club. St Kilda, well supported by Holmesglen Institute, demonstrated that girls with diverse interests, talents and skills are welcome in the AFL code, playing, supporting, analysing and communicating the insights that technology brings to the modern game.
Outcomes
To complete the day, students were issued with an MTS-designed digital badge which has been co-branded with St Kilda Education and Holmesglen Institute. The badge captures skills, tasks and experiences across the day and can be included on a resume, LinkedIn or other social media platforms.
The partnership demonstrates the exciting career pathways available to young women in community and elite sports levels. Importantly, Supersport created a safe environment for girls to explore TAFE pathways as a genuine alternative tertiary option or as an opportunity that could be accessed during a gap year. It also clearly demonstrated how technology is being used in the sports industry, permitting girls who don’t play themselves to identify multiple destinations that combine a love of sport and a passion for STEM.
