Essendon has had a hectic opening couple of days to its #EmbracingIndia community trip. The players have tasted and travelled their way all over India's cultural epicentre, Kolkata.
The highlight of the stop in the bustling eastern province was the AFL India super clinic held on the India Bangladesh border. More than 200 young budding AFL players turned out on a local soccer field, complete with grazing cows, for a taste of Aussie rules.
Some participants travelled more than ten hours across for the chance to have a kick with Joe Daniher, Dyson Heppell, Zach Merrett and David Zaharakis. With plenty of interested onlookers, boys and girls of all ages tackled the clinic with plenty of enthusiasm, not to mention some incredible skills.
The height of Joe Daniher had the budding young stars in awe, and with their full attention his goal kicking tricks didn't take long to run off.
"I was really surprised how many young boys and girls turned out for the AFL India super clinic," Daniher said.
"They had some pretty impressive skills. Zacka and I took them through a few drills and they didn't miss a beat, we might have even met the next Dyson Heppell or Jobe Watson today,"
"It wasn't long before they were snapping goals from all angles. It's a sport that's clearly growing in popularity and to see the smiles and how much enjoyment they got out of the clinic was a really rewarding experience."
AFL India President and team India captain Sudip Chakraborty said he was overwhelmed by the club's initiative to come and host a clinic in Such a remote part of India.
"The Essendon Football Club players in India coming to coach us, is the biggest achievement," Chakraborty said.
"Essendon took the first step in coming over and helping us out here, all the boys and girls have never had training from a proper coach, this is a magnificent experience and hopefully we can do this every year."
"This is like Sachin Tendulkar coming to another country to teach people how to play cricket, to have these players here training us is out of this world."
The players also paid a special visit to the children at the Mother Teresa Orphanage and held an impromptu kick to kick with some locals at the Victoria Monument and gardens in the heart of Kolkata.
You can also follow the players on their trip via EFC social media using the #EmbracingIndia.