AFL star Brent Harvey mentors Tasmanian football team over Skype

is a highly inventive and resourceful coach who certainly made the most of a tricky situation for his Tasmanian football club.

Determined to give his team the benefit of an elite AFL experience, Irishtown Football Club U/14 coach Clinton McLaren approached Pickstar with a unique idea - organising a series of interactive Skype sessions with a past or present AFL star.

The benefit of the Pickstar platform is that any idea is possible, so the team pitched the opportunity to a range of AFL sports stars who could be interested.

North Melbourne superstar Brent Harvey loved the idea and the coach's dedication to his team and jumped at the opportunity.

Pickstar connected the AFL legend and the regional coach, and they were able to organise three dates across May, June, and July where Brent would mentor the boys through Skype.

Brent's interactive Skype sessions focused on junior football. He shared stories from his time as a young footballer and gave honest insights into what it takes for teenage boys to make it to AFL level.

Brent also engaged in thorough skills-based discussions and even gave the boys skills homework to work on before their next session.

He also allowed time for a Q&A, where the boys were able to ask him any additional questions they liked.

Across the three months, there was a positive change in the boys' attitudes and performance and they displayed increased motivation to grow both individually and as a team. Brent's mentoring also impacted Clinton's coaching strategies and was critical in the team's first win of the season in late June.

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