Bol Kolang has taken all before him on the football field after first playing the game three years ago. 85255_01 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By LIAM TWOMEY
THE rise of Bol Kolang on the football field has been nothing short of amazing.
After moving from Sudan to Australia as a six-year-old, Kolang originally spent his time on the basketball court, playing for Werribee.
However, it wasn’t until a friend who was playing for the Western Jets invited him to have a kick before training that he realised his true calling.
“He said, you’re actually not a bad kick. Have you ever thought about playing and he told me to come down to train with the Western Jets and to see how I go.
“I went down and I guess I did alright because they kept me around,” Kolang said.
Kolang played one season in the Jets Development Squad before being invited back as a 19-year-old the following year.
Team-mates, managers and coaches were instantly impressed with Kolang including Jets’ head coach and former Western Bulldogs AFL player Steve Kretiuk.
“Steve is one of those coaches where it is all about having 100 per cent effort, and he is not so much focused on your skills and that sort of stuff,” Kolang said.
“The feedback was mainly that they liked my work ethic and things like that. I was new to the game, so I just tried to listen to everything they told me and tried to work hard and do what I could for the team.”
Just three years on, Kolang is playing senior football for Werribee in the Victorian Amateur Football Association despite still being eligible to play in the under 19s.
Tigers’ senior coach Kirk Norton had been rapt with Kolang’s progress after he was also named the VAFA rising star last month.
“It has been a pleasant surprise how much he has come on which has been in leaps and bounds. The work rate that he has for us and the amount of learning he tries to do is great,” Norton said.
“He is a quality kid to coach. He will never back answer, he will never express disappointment or anything he just gets on with the business and tries to improve himself week in week out.”
Higher powers in the game have also been impressed with Kolang’s rise up the ranks.
At the start of the season, VFL side Werribee invited the 19-year-old to do a pre-season with the club.
Although university commitments prevented him from attending, Kolang said he would love the opportunity to complete a pre-season with the Tigers before the 2013 season.
He also has a handy training partner in his corner, Werribee and North Melbourne ruckman Majak Daw, who is a family friend.
“It’s great to see him (Daw) do well in an area where we are not known for doing well, and it’s great to see him create those pathways for other young kids to hopefully achieve the same goal,” Kolang said.
“He was doing all the right things with his body and rehab and eating the right foods and all that and it was great to see him be rewarded for that by being drafted to North.”
Daw watched Kolang play a few of the earlier games in his career and his main piece of advice was just to have fun.
While Kolang’s goal going forward is to continue to improve, he said it would be great to one day play a game in the ruck with Daw.
“That would be pretty fun. I was hoping I could do it at the Jets, but he was in the age group above me.
“Next year if I am lucky enough to make it, it would be great to play a few games with him.”
