The WESTSTAR Australian Rules Football Academy is a WA based, high performance coaching and training program, for footballers aged 11-15 years old.
The WESTSTAR Australian Rules Football Academy is a two stage program, which allows our highly experienced coaches to provide specific training, relevant to the athlete’s phase of development.
Meet our team of highly experienced and passionate industry professionals, helping to create and deliver an elite program dedicated to developing the next generation of Aussie Rules champions.
As you reach a certain age and become more experienced in the industry, you realise a vast number of athletes in their prime are still so young. With high-level sports, many s
There are many people who believe the gym is not a place for kids. ‘They aren’t physically ready’ or the all-time favourite ‘weight training stunts their growth’ are the cries
Fitness. It’s an interesting topic when we consider how the modern industry perceives the word. Many conventional gyms and self proclaimed ‘Fitness gurus’ often play on the fa
Alex Silvagni is a current AFL footballer and leadership group member with over 12 years of experience in the AFL, VFL and WAFL environments. He has completed his Level 2 AFL coaching course, during which, he was an assistant coach for the WA state under 18’s team.
Alex has completed an M.B.A degree and a Bachelor of Science, which has allowed him to develop his own personal and professional skills.
Matt de Boer is a current AFL footballer and leadership group member and has played 166 AFL games primarily as a midfielder/forward, as well as representing all available state teams from 15’s through to 18’s, which culminated in All-Australian selection.
Matt’s wealth of experience has played a major role in developing WESTSTAR into a high performance football program.
Matt has also completed his Bachelor of Commerce Degree at the University of Western Australia with a High Distinction average as an example of the importance of balance in an athlete’s lifestyle.
Bec Davis comes from a footballing family with both her father and brother having significant careers in both WAFL and state football teams. Following her eldest son’s selection in the WA state AFL 12’s team she identified an obvious gap within the WA Football Development pathway noticing virtually no on-going development for talented West Australian footballers between the ages of 11-15.
With football academies being firmly established for this age group within Victoria, N.S.W and QLD there was no comparative option in W.A. In keeping with her personal philosophy of developing young talent and of her own initiative she set up WESTSTAR.
Her passion is to provide an elite program for talented young West Australian footballers who are keen to enhance their skills via a professional program delivered by skilled and competent football professionals.
Ray has over 20 years experience in the WA development pathway and WAFL competition. Ray started his football journey in 1998 at the age of 13, where he was part of the WA development squad for 4 years. In 2001, Ray joined the West Perth Football Club in their Colts division, before joining the WPFC senior team in 2003. Ray enjoyed a stellar 187 game career at WPFC from 2003-2015. During that time, Ray was a club vice-captain, WA state game playing member, two time runner up B&F winner and premiership player. In 2013, Ray was awarded life membership for his contribution to WPFC during his time there.
Post his playing football career, Ray has turned his attention to coaching the game he loves. Ray began his journey in 2013 as a senior development coach for WPFC. Over the past 5 years, Ray has been the fitness coach for Whitford Amateurs FC, a 15’s and 16’s assistant coach at WPFC and is currently a Fremantle FC Next Generation academy coach for the West Perth district. Ray is currently working his way towards a level 2 qualification.
John Vincenti is an Australian Strength & Conditioning Association (ASCA) professional coach with an Australian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) Level 3 coaching accreditation. John has over 20 years of experience working with high performance teams, in the areas of AFL, Rugby League, Weightlifting, Volleyball and Basketball. His commitment to developing young athletes in the area of strength and conditioning is second to none.
Mark Neates is one of Perth’s longest serving high performance coaches, specialising in speed and power. He has a wealth of AFL experience including his time as a sprint coach for the West Coast Eagles from 1986 until 2000, where he enjoyed the success of two premierships and many finals campaigns. Mark’s experience also includes time at the Fremantle Dockers and the Richmond Football Club. Mark was also the former sprint coach of the State AFL under 18’s team and five WAFL Clubs.
Outside of being a club coach, Mark has also enjoyed much success as a private sprint coach. He has privately coached three Brownlow Medallists including Ben Cousins, Simon Black and Shane Woewodin. Along with many other AFL stars including Elliot Yeo, Patrick Cripps, Harry Taylor and Dean Cox to name a few.
Darren Kowal is the Academies Specialist Kicking Coach. Darren brings an enormous amount of knowledge and experience having spent 14 years competing at AFL and WAFL level where he played over 100 games for both the Melbourne Football Club and Claremont Football Club. Renowned for his sublime foot skills as a player, Darren is passionate and committed to working closely with the WESTSTAR athletes to improve kicking techniques and efficiency. Darren is a Level 2 accredited coach and has a Bachelor of Education specialising in Health & Physical Education (John XX111 College).
