hi there..im not dissing the program development panthers do, but I am also not ill informed!
I know the programs are there!! I just wish it was at our school. I did speak to a guy the day the allstars came to blacktown and he was as suprised as I that the school didnt have a program running (this was also the day I spoke to Mario). He said he didnt know of our school but gave me his mobile number and said can someone at the school call him. I passed the number on to the school but still no NRL (lotsa AFL)..Now my guess is the school didnt call this guy, but I would have loved for them to be pro-active and called the school because our kids LOVE league.
Secondly, the point about being suprised that a player couldnt come to visit our football team at their training..I sent the email as per Panthers website that asks for it to be sent in writing as to what the event is, why, etc etc...
so the correct procedure was taken both last year and this year. Last year they said it was not good timing as the players had just finished for the season and I dont know what reason there was for not coming this year - but as I said we were offered the option of taking our boys to watch the Panthers train and again this was a fabulous opportunity for the boys and they really loved it. I guess my point is I was pro active in organising this for our team of 8 but again it would be great to see the club being more proactive in sending invites etc. In our case it was a great situation cause we did go there ..but most team managers or coaches wouldnt even know this option is available to them!
And thirdly the comment about it being Parra/Penrith border and therefore a no go zone..aahhh I wish it was that simple. I actually did apply to Paramatta to have a player come to our training as well and a lovely girl from Parra called to explain that as much as they would love to send a player, our area is definitely a Penrith area and therefore they couldnt send someone. She said she had a lot of requests from our area but as THEY send players to lots of junior football events in Parramatta (and I know they do because Nathan Hindmarsh has been to Kellyville Bushrangers etc) they couldnt send anyone to our area as it was exclusively Penrith.
You can imagine my frustration at the time. One team cant come over cause its not their zone but would have loved to otherwise and the team that we were in the zone of doesnt send players to training!! When your kids are so passionate about football it can be pretty disheartening but as I said it was a great outcome for us in the end cause our boys got to meet the boys and watch a training session..
In the school holidays there is a development program being run by Panthers devpt but again I had to go on the junior website to find this and again Panthers team themselves arent involved in it.
So whilst I do not for a second disagree that the junior development in our area is above average and so good for the kids..there seems to be some disjointed areas relating back to the actual Panthers team.
I will say that when my son was in Kindy he went to another school Oxley Park which is near St Marys and Lachlan Cootes who was not really known at the time did come to the school for a healthy breakfast promo and they did do a football program too..but thats obviously closer to the Penrith area.
We are probs just a bit too far away for Penrith and close enough for Parra but not in the zone!!
Please understand I am not having a go at Penrith..I do attend every home game. I dont have membership but pay for each game I attend, but I am just presenting a few reasons as to why they might have low numbers