Despite being sidelined with a fractured and dislocated thumb, West Coast defender Mitch Brown has been making the most of his time off-field, heading up to the Pilbara earlier this week as part of the West Coast Eagles BHP Billiton Kicking Goals program.

Brown spent time with students at Port Hedland Senior High School and Newman Senior High School, where he went through training sessions with students and gave them tips and advice, as well as chatting about the importance of goal-setting, dedication and team-work.

“It’s really important to understand the importance of teamwork,” Brown explained to the students.

“It only takes one player to not be doing the right thing for the zone to break down and be useless. Always try your hardest to be a team-player, in footy and in life.”

Kicking Goals, which is one of Australia’s largest regional mentoring programs, is a joint initiative between BHP Billiton, West Coast Eagles and Swan Districts Football Club, with the aim to improve attendance levels, encourage healthy choices and improve antisocial behaviour among students in the remote Pilbara region of WA.

Combining sport-based initiatives to help students in the Pilbara achieve better educational and employment outcomes, Kicking Goals utilises a reward system, whereby students are required to maintain certain key standards to be eligible for various incentives.

Since its inception in 2005, the Kicking Goals program continues to deliver impressive academic and social results for the Pilbara, including improvement in attendance records and literary and numeracy, as well as assist BHP Billiton’s commitment to better education in Port Hedland, Newman and Indigenous communities across the Pilbara.