Footy and farming would possibly appear to be an odd pairing to most, however to GWS GIANTS participant Alyce Parker, it makes excellent sense. The NAB AFLW star, who spent her childhood in regional NSW, has struck an ideal steadiness between her profession on the elite stage and life on her household farm.
Born and raised on a property in Cookardinia, about midway between Sydney and Melbourne, Parker fondly factors to the farm as a supply of pleasure rising up.
“It’s my favorite place on earth, for positive, we now have a household farm quarter-hour out of Holbrook, [it has] been there for just a few generations,” she stated.
“I grew up just about following Dad across the farm, as quickly as I may begin strolling, I used to be actually annoying him — if I couldn’t do one thing, I used to be watching his each transfer to attempt to be taught.”
Alongside her tutelage on the farm, Parker attended faculty at Holbrook Public after which Billabong Excessive, and jumped at each sporting alternative her training provided up. Regardless of typically having to combine it with the boys, the teenager loved the expertise, discovering a way of function and belonging within the rural sporting atmosphere.
“I did have a really constructive expertise rising up taking part in sport. Sometimes, within the nation it’s fairly pure to have, I assume, the ‘dinosaurs’ or the older technology that aren’t used to females taking part in sport,” Parker mirrored.
“There have been actually instances the place I used to be the one woman working round in a boys’ crew and you already know, that may increase eyebrows, however nobody ever questioned what did, I used to be absolutely supported… I by no means questioned what I did primarily based on how I used to be handled and that’s in all probability probably the most wholesome atmosphere you’ll be able to develop up in.”
For Parker, footy was down the decrease finish of her listing of chosen sports activities — at one level collaborating in seven totally different sporting disciplines — swimming, tennis, netball, cricket, soccer, athletics and soccer. Swimming was her aggressive focus and noticed Parker racing at a nationwide stage; however in school, she spent her lunch breaks with mates mucking round with a footy.
“From about Yr 3, I bear in mind, I’d be standing within the objective sq. with all of the Yr Six boys bombing in torps and kicking objectives. I actually put myself within the firing line however that was my earliest publicity and possibly one of the simplest ways to get thrown into it,” Parker recalled.
Little did Parker realise, while ‘working amuck and studying find out how to kick’ with the older boys, her lecturers had observed their pupil’s uncooked expertise and enthusiasm for the sport.
“I nonetheless bear in mind the dialog, [my teacher] walked up at some point and stated, ‘How do you are feeling about taking part in within the boys crew?’. I actually stated, ‘Completely not!’ — I used to be terrified, I didn’t need to; however to his credit score he caught with it and stored asking me and finally I got here round,’ Parker laughed.
“I performed my first sport once I was 11, in Yr Six, with the boys’ crew for the Tony Lockett Defend at Holbrook Oval. I believe I kicked 4 objectives in that sport — I nonetheless wasn’t throughout the entire guidelines, however simply performed on absolute intuition. From that second I realised that this was a sport that I completely cherished, so I took each alternative that got here.”
And many got here her means. Alongside her footy with Thurgoona Soccer Membership and 4-year stint representing NSW/ACT; in 2017 and 2018 Parker additionally featured within the then NAB AFLW U18 Championships, taking part in for the Jap Allies. She earned not one, however two U18 All-Australian accolades and a number of State MVP awards. Regardless of her early success, Parker wasn’t satisfied that taking part in on the elite stage was for her.
“I cherished my footy. I used to be taking part in for NSW, was taking part in for a membership, taking part in the Nationwide Academy and having fun with it; however I simply wasn’t positive if I wished to do AFLW,” Parker mirrored.
“I did have just a few different sports activities I used to be taking part in on the time, and I wished to maintain taking part in sports activities that I loved, so I didn’t need to cease something any sooner than I needed to … I did should be absolutely satisfied of what AFLW was going to appear to be for me, and the place was it heading when it comes to professionalism — [it was] nonetheless constructing.”
After a weighing up the extraordinarily tough determination to provide away a decade-long aggressive swimming profession, Parker made the decision to focus solely on footy. It helped that there have been some acquainted faces already taking part in within the AFLW, friends and coaches from her time in State consultant pathways.
“Again in 2018, there have been solely eight groups within the competitors, so I used to be simply leaving my determination till I just about needed to. For me, the door that opened was the New South Wales ACT AFL pathway and we had [AFLW players] Alicia Eva and Nicola Barr are available in as coaches,” stated Parker.
“From the second I met them and being coached by them — I simply was so drawn to that sort of particular person and athlete, and I assumed if I’m going to fulfill extra individuals like this, then I need to be an AFLW participant.”
Three months later, the gifted teenager was drafted to GWS, at decide 12 within the 2018 nationwide draft. Parker credit her background in swimming to her grounded method in that first preseason — not simply the way it had ready her bodily, but additionally mentally — with the participant confidently debuting towards the Brisbane Lions in Week 1 of the 2019 NAB AFLW Season. Parker remembers the second fondly.
“I attempt to remind myself of how I really felt once I walked within the doorways, and an important instance is with Amanda Farrugia … the primary time working out she was subsequent to me, we have been taking part in up in Brisbane towards the Lions, and I bear in mind she stated, ‘you’ll always remember the way you felt listening to the crew music as you run out on your first sport’. And, yeah, it was very true — I’ve by no means forgotten that second,” stated Parker.
While these early recollections of footy on the elite stage sit effectively with the GIANTS star, Parker additionally flags that the transfer to Sydney to play AFLW stays one of many greatest challenges that she has undertaken.
“Transferring to Sydney was by far, and to this present day, the most important problem I’ve ever had. I used to be in a means terrified it was going to remove that different half of myself,” she says of her life at house on the farm.
“I cherished the journey, and I really like the problem it offers me, however I additionally realise that there’s a complete different facet to me as an individual. I’ve this enormous ardour, and it actually comes from my dad and mom. Mum did an ag-science diploma and teaches science and agriculture in highschool and pop’s clearly been a farmer his complete life, so I’ve inherited that zeal for agriculture.”
Parker notes from ‘day one’ at GWS, the membership have been ‘extremely supportive and understanding’ of who she is as a complete particular person — each the footballer and the farmer. When she isn’t deep into the AFLW season, the gifted footballer might be discovered again on the farm, throwing herself into no matter challenges her day by day work presents.
“On daily basis is totally different. Each week is totally different. As I grow old, I realise that’s a lot of why I adore it as an occupation — there are challenges thrown left, proper and centre, however you’re stimulated by various things each single day, and I really like that. It actually retains you busy!” she stated.
Parker can be planning for her future post-footy — at present finding out a Bachelor of Agricultural Enterprise Administration, part-time. Juggling her examine round her footy profession has been made simpler by the assist of each her membership and the college.
When contemplating how the overlap of footy and farming have given her a bonus, Parker flags that her experiences have led to a maturity and perspective past her younger age.
“As I grow old, I realise it’s a lot of the best way I’ve been introduced up and issues I skilled at a younger age. You don’t get that resilience in case you don’t undergo adversity or challenges; so, seeing my dad and mom undergo results of drought or flooding on the farm, it actually makes you perceive the world loads sooner,” she mirrored.
“I actually don’t take issues as a right now — you pay each little bit of respect and a focus to what’s in entrance of you.”
This precious perspective was put to make use of within the latest offseason, when Parker copped some intense media consideration in the course of the league’s Commerce and Signal interval. Popping out of contract meant that there was loads of curiosity in the place the star would land subsequent, however for Parker — typically highlighted as a ‘loyal membership particular person’ — it was easy, stick with the membership that supported her as a ‘human’.
“It was an expertise final 12 months, and I’m so grateful to have gone by means of it. It was pure for me to come back out of contract — I couldn’t have been happier with my determination.,” Parker stated of the media second.
“I really like this membership a lot, not simply [because they] assist me as a human, however they’re incredible when it comes to my expertise — simply listening and giving me each alternative to be in the perfect atmosphere that I need to be in — for myself, as an individual and as a participant. That’s what the membership have created. And the eye was, in a means, a great expertise for me to develop … if something, the lesson it taught me is to really again myself.”
With Week 3 of the 2024 NAB AFLW season already underway, and a win and a loss beneath her crew’s belt; Parker is eager to seize extra on-field success and to construct on the connection and tradition that retains her coming again to the GIANTS.
“[The culture] is a lot part of the explanation why I by no means wished to depart … it’s fairly pure to get sucked into the enterprise facet of issues, and sure, we play footy, however we’re there to win and in case you’re not profitable, effectively you’ve obtained to do one thing about that,” she stated.
“However the GIANTS have all the time fostered the character of taking care of the particular person first and supporting them — and the results of that, is getting the perfect participant that they will.”
