How did you get into AFLW?
When I first moved to Brisbane, I actually saw the first ever inaugural game on television, some of the girls I play against now were actually in that game. I didn’t realise that female footy was a thing, and I thought it was pretty awesome, so I literally just google ‘Brisbane female AFL’, clicked on the first thing that came up, and I called up the coach and sort of rocked up to training not knowing anyone. I had no idea how to play but I was like, I really wanna give it a go
What was your first experience playing AFLW like?
Because AFL is such a massively growing sport in Brisbane and as a whole, it’s kind of, ‘the more the merrier’, so anyone that kind of rocks up to training, they’re so encouraging and so welcoming, so it just makes you feel very appreciated. When you feel welcome in a community, and somewhere that you really feel appreciated, it makes you happy to be there.
Are there any similarities between UBX and your Footy Club?
I think UBX can definitely relate to that team sport environment, it just really attracts positive people. People that wanna be here, people that want to work hard, and that is so similar to the environment in football
Why do you incorporate UBX workouts into your athlete training?
I love the high intensity, where you’re going super intense and having recover really fast before going really hard at it again, that is so similar to footy. [The workouts are] changing all the time, so that’s super important in any kind of training that your body doesn’t get too used to it, so it’s always being challenged
How is UBX relevant to your footy training?
The strength and endurance side of things, because you’re having to learn how to recover super fast before going really hard at it again; the explosiveness, how a box jump can really relate to having to jump high for the ball; power, off the mark. So a lot of it is very very relevant.
The boxing’s also super handy as well. AFL obviously does incorporate so much running, your legs kinda do get very fatigued, so being able to still have that aspect of the cardio with boxing is super helpful, whilst being able to learn so many new skills and combos is also really fun as well.
The endurance of just having your arms moving all the time, having to push off opponents, and even the power side of things when you are doing those power punches… it is so important to kind of use your body with that, and again when you’re having to push off an opponent you’re not just using your arms, you’re using your body, so having that technique of the boxing definitely relates to that
