AFL Fiji coach and development officer Simon Highfield hopes the sport of AFL will grow in communities and schools after the Level One coaching accreditation and umpiring workshop at Albert Park on Friday.

More than 50 participants showed up for the workshop which included players, community leaders and school teachers.

Highfield said with their experience they have gained, he hopes they will go out and get others involved in the sport.

“It was good to see a lot of people turning for the workshop. Last year we only had 40 and this year we have over 50 which is great,” Highfield said.

“We really hope these players, teachers and community leaders go back with what they have learnt and set up clinics and programmes to get more people involved and educated about AFL.

“They learnt a lot from what it takes to be a coach, being respectful and how to plan to all the skills and game plans and drills needed in coaching a team.

“These are the future coaches, they will hopefully be involved in coaching teams in the future, this is where it all begins, if you have good coaches you have good players.

“This is our fourth workshop and we want to have more people who are Level One accredited coaches in future.

“AFL is not a major sport but with these workshops and coaches who know what they are doing and are educated about the game, we hope this will grow.”