FifthQtr has a focus on providing guidance to athletes dealing with the effects of concussion or similar, with foundation founder Ken Hunter, the keynote speaker of the event, expected to share insights into the consequences many former players face from such injuries.
Hunter will be joined by Echuca resident Ken Sheldon, the pair having been premiership players for Carlton in the 1980s before going on to establish FifthQtr as a non-profit organisation.
At this seminar, they will also welcome a special guest speaker in John Barnes, a former Geelong and Essendon player who will share his story contending with the effects of concussion.
Such events are common for FifthQtr to hold, the organisation, established in 2021, having made strong progress with its work, already gaining engagement from AFL clubs such as Richmond, Essendon and Melbourne.
Its initial primary focus was on past and present AFL and AFLW players, but one of the foundation’s current objectives is to bring its work to all levels of football and netball, and ultimately any athletes who may suffer concussions playing contact sports.
Part of the current plan is the launch of a new AI-driven tool known as Healthmate, a platform offered for free that provides 10 different categories of support for players, families and partners in the event of post-concussion struggles.
The tool will be presented at the seminar, and FifthQtr is aiming to integrate it within local football-netball club websites.
Event manager Gary Denson encouraged partners of players to attend, along with parents of junior athletes, particularly if they wanted to know what resources were available should their child suffer a concussion or similar injury.
“Let’s do a scenario: the player experiences concussion in a game, doesn’t get knocked out necessarily, but certainly gets concussed, and they seem to be normal, but it could be two, three, four days later that all of a sudden, they’re now getting headaches, and they’re forgetful, and they’re listless,” Denson said.
“So that's one particular angle of how we help them with introductions into specialists, etc.
“But the other one is to educate the partner so that it doesn’t become an issue within their relationship, they are understanding, more compassionate, but also that they’re armed with more information on where to go and get the additional support.
“Often times the partner may well go, ‘get over it, it’s just a headache’, so that’s what we’re trying to address, so it’s really about education, compassion and provision of advocacy and support services.”
The seminar coming up is an important outlet for the foundation to provide educational information on the topic, and plenty of tickets are still remaining.
Tickets are $25, available to purchase on TryBooking, while children under 18 can attend for free.
There is also the option to instead donate $25 to the foundation to attend the seminar.
The event will be held at Moama Bowling Club on Wednesday, April 29, running from 6.30pm to 8pm.
