Young football supporters can now become virtual list managers with a new competition allowing students to leverage their maths and analytical skills to choose the ultimate 2017 Collingwood squad while staying beneath the AFL salary cap. 

The Collingwood Football Club, in collaboration with the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT), have launched a dynamic new national maths competition called the STEM Cup.

The STEM Cup competition allows students to assume the role of the Capologist, and be challenged to build the best team at the best price. Guided by Collingwood National Recruiting Assistant and LifeJourney mentor Dominic Milesi, students will compete to become the nation’s top capologist. 

Students, teachers, and parents can click here to register for the STEM Cup program, and the competition is now officially open until August 20.

"Collingwood is delighted to engage Australian STEM students in this important challenge," Collingwood CEO Gary Pert.

"Our lead capologist Dominic Milesi is arguably our brightest superstar off the field. His unique talent and analysis are critical to our success as a club.

"Our hope for the Collingwood STEM Cup is to inspire more students to study maths and STEM subjects and build Australia’s future."

The successful students and schools in each region will be recognised and rewarded with the Collinwood STEM Cup experience, including a behind the scenes VIP experience and draft session with Milesi and contribute to a salary cap planning session.

The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) is promoting the initiative with its 4,500-member base of Maths Teachers and their schools so that Australian students can better appreciate the power of mathematics from the classroom to the football field.

“AAMT is pleased to work with Collingwood and LifeJourney on the STEM Cup," stated AAMT Chief Executive Officer Will Morony.

"Our teacher members are constantly seeking out unique and interesting programs that provide students with an opportunity to leverage maths skills in a real-world context.  Combining the power of football with the importance of maths enables us to accelerate the STEM agenda of our nation."

Participation in the STEM Cup is offered free of charge. Teachers are encouraged to register their students for the STEM Cup through the website.

About Collingwood Football Club: Collingwood Football Club is all about high-performance, community and education. Day of STEM fits perfectly into this value-set as the STEM requirements for building an elite sporting club become more important.

About AAMT: The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) Inc., founded in 1966, is the nation’s premier organisation of mathematics educators. It aims to: support and enhance the work of teachers; promote the learning of mathematics; and represent and promote interests in mathematics education. It is a federation of associations of teachers of mathematics from each Australian State and Territory and has around 4500 individual and institutional members.

About the Day of STEM: The Day of STEM is a national initiative, designed to raise the National IQ for STEM and Cybersecurity careers. The Day of STEM will inspire the next generation of Australian STEM professionals through an interactive, online STEM awareness program called LifeJourney. This platform enables students, at scale, to test-drive STEM careers and live a day in the life of the nation’s leading STEM professionals by introducing them to the hard and soft skills needed to pursue a STEM career.

About LifeJourney®: Founded in 2012, LifeJourney enables students to test-drive their future by living a day in the life of Australia’s STEM and Cyber leaders. For more, visit www.lifejourney.us