Karter's can-do attitude
by Nicholas Duck
Like thousands of kids all over Victoria, Karter Evans wants nothing more than to get outside and play footy with his mates.
And now the 11-year-old, who lives with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair to assist his movement, has the chance to do just that after being welcomed with open arms into the Warragul Junior Football Club.
Karter is now an official member of the club's under 12s team, where he is joining in at training and will run out with his teammates on game day - and hopefully get to play a game along the way.
Karter has always dreamed of the big stage as a certified AFL fanatic, having had the opportunity to join some of his heroes at the Essendon Football Club on the MCG when he was younger.
"He's always said to me he wants to play in the AFL," his mother Jess said.
When Karter expressed his desire to join a local club it put Jess in a bit of a bind. Unsure of whether Warragul, the club where many of his friends play, would be able to accommodate her son, she sent off an email and hoped for the best.
"I asked if there was any way he could be involved in any way, shape or form and they called me straight away to say yep, that's fine," she explained.
Whatever nerves Karter and his family had going into their first training session quickly disappeared when the kids immediately brought him into the fold, welcoming him to the session with no hesitation.
"It was so wholesome to watch, none of the other kids were looking at him in a different light. They were all just excited," Jess said.
"They all got around him and the coach treated him like anyone else."
Warragul Junior Football Club president Leigh Sheehan, whose son plays in the team and attends school with Karter, said the decision to involve him was "a no-brainer."
"I just thought that if we have an opportunity for a kid that really just wants to be a part of a team and play footy with his mates, rather than finding a way to say no you just say yes to what we can do," he said.
"He wanted to be part of a team, I think there's a role for him to play on a team. Why not just say yes and see where that goes?"
Karter will continue to train with the Gulls as a full member of the under 12s team. On game day, he'll be involved as much as possible - running out with his teammates, singing the song, assisting the coach and carrying out a variety of other responsibilities.
The hope is he may even be able to get some game time at some stage.
"We're in discussions with the AFL on what that looks like and what we can do, we'll also have to engage the opposition clubs as well," Leigh said.
A video posted by Jess on her Facebook page 'Karter's Krew', where she advocates for disability awareness and inclusion, quickly caught on, garnering more than 130,000 views on Facebook and more than 6500 likes on Instagram.
It also received comments from both the Essendon Football Club and former Bomber Sam Draper, who Karter has a prior friendship with.
For some families getting to play footy is a given, but for Jess and the rest of Karter's family it means that much more.
"I think I'd been going through grief with the fact I'll probably never see my son run out on a football field. So to actually see him do it was pretty wholesome, I was very emotional. It just definitely means a lot for our family, it means a lot to him," she said.
"I was actually quite shocked that they went out of their way to accommodate for him and I'm so grateful and thankful.
"Even just the children, obviously there were a lot of kids from his school there. But then there were kids from other schools who hadn't even met him. It's literally like they were with him as just a part of the team. Not one person said 'oh why is there a wheelchair there?' I think it shows their parents are raising good kids."
Community footy is more than just a game for Leigh and the Gulls as well.
"It's more about providing the kids an opportunity to learn and grow and be a part of a community where they belong. That's the reason why community footy clubs exist in my mind."
