This year was shaping as a tough one for decision-making for young Ballarat athlete Harry Sharp.
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Aussie rules or athletics?
He was always going to give football a big shot, but the national track champion was still planning to make a play at the big time in athletics.
It was certainly going to be a balancing act at some points.
The intervention of the COVID-19 shutdown changed all that for the 17-year-old. - effectively makiing the decision for him.
For so long there was nothing.
Now with athletics - cross country, road, and track and field - competitions still some way from getting back into full swing, football is now his primary focus.
Inititally he will continue his preparation with Caulfield Grammar in readiness for the Associated Public Schools season on July 25 and then turn his focus to Greater Western Rebels in the NAB League under-18s, where the East Point youngster hopes to promote his prospects for the national AFL draft.
Sharp said his athletics training programs had been instrumental in maintaining his fitness throughout the COVID-19 lockdown.
These had included training alongside 2016 Olympian Linden Hall, and under the guidance of Wolf Pack Track Club coach Bruce Scriven and his Ballarat coach Neville Down.
Sharp is a multiple national track champion on the flat and over the steeples, and had everything fallen into place he might now have been preparing to represent Australia in the world under-20 championships in Kenya next month.
Now though, Sharp says it is a "no-brainer" to put all his efforts into football.
The Year 11 student said school football training had been back for a while, with three sessions a week with the first XIII squad.
It is filling the football gap for Sharp, with the Rebels program being shut down since March.
While the AFL has announced that the NAB League will resume in August, Sharp said he was yet get any details about a return to training.
He said this added to the importance of the APS football program.
Sharp said Rebels had provided a fitness program, but getting back to group training was certainly more enjoyable and beneficial.
The NAB League boys' under-18 competitiion will begin for Sharp and his Rebel teammates on the weekend of Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23.
They will play six-week season, splitting the 12 clubs into metro and country conferences.
They will play five rounds within the conferences and then a final in the sixth round, essentially meaning the top-placed side in each division will face-off for the premiership in the final week.
Rebels full-time staff including talent manager Phil Partington, and regional coaching director and head coach Marc Greig are yet to return to work.
