IT has been a journey like no other for Ebony Antonio. She has been through the basketball ranks, where she had a remarkable junior and senior journey, before coming home to Perth where she has enjoyed more success through the WAFL competition, now playing with the Fremantle Dockers in the AFLW.

Growing up in Burracoppin, it all started from kicking the footy with her two younger twin brothers and her dad and other members of her family, where Antonio was coached by her dad through the Auskick ranks, from Under 9s to Under 12s.

Whilst it was challenging, being a female and having to switch codes, Antonio shared how she fell in love with footy, the speed bumps and the code switching to basketball.

“I kind of left the sport of footy not on my own [accord], but the fact that there was no pathway for me going forward. That’s where my basketball career took off from me.”

“I started playing junior basketball down at Willetton Basketball Stadium, where I played club level back in junior days with Tangos and then started playing WABL, all the way through to SPL and I started my career and made state team campaigns, travelled a bit across the country with School Sports WA, as well as refereeing and representing WA and for the state for championships.

“I played a couple of seasons with the Waves. I was then approached by a good mate of mine in Victoria and I moved myself to go play at the SEABL competition of there, which is the state competition  and played over there to play for the Bendigo Braves, where I played out a season there.

“I ended up getting my arm twisted to stay and play for the Bendigo Spirit for the WNBL. I spent two years in Melbourne in country town Bendigo, where I was pretty successful and won a couple of championships with the Braves, as well as the Bendigo Spirit.

“After a couple of years over there, I thought It was time to come home. I moved back home and continued my basketball career with the Goodison Basketball Club, where I won four SPL championships.”

Whilst Antonio’s basketball journey came to end, she made the decision to make the switch to play football, being inspired by one of her mates through social media to play and come down for a training session. Antonio shared the moment she fell in love with football again, and is grateful for the pathway she has taken up until now.

“From that moment going forward, I never looked back and going down and giving it a try again, because that was my pathway and my career in teams of my sporting career, and that was pretty special. I played a couple of years playing footy at SPL and WNBL,” Antonio said.

“I gave up basketball, as much as I miss it, I had an awesome career, where I made many good friends and won a lot of championships, a lot of defeats as well losing grand finals. “It’s made me the person that I am today. “All the hard work that I’ve put in with my boss, Chris, definitely saluted the way I’ve been able to create my own career as well.

“Where I’m at now, the pathway has definitely developed over the last couple of years. “You now see a pathway all the way from grassroots, which I’m very envious, but also very proud that I’ve been able to be a pioneer in sports and pave the way for the younger girls coming through.”

Fast forward to the present, where Antonio is playing her sixth season for the Fremantle Dockers. Antonio has embraced how far the competition has growth since 2017 and how much the game and league has grown over the last six years.

“The AFLW has been around for six years and knowing what the next six, seven, 10 years is pretty crazy to think of the standard of footy being produced,” she said. “There’s girls that have grassroots all the way through and you’re going to have a lot of girls that have had a lot of success in their younger years able to develop and ready for AFLW and I’m excited to see what the future holds for the AFLW space.”

Playing with her wife Kara Antonio has been special, coming through the WAFL competition together to the AFLW. Whilst it’s had it’s challenging at times, she is grateful to play alongside Kara in the same team and be able to share the success together as a couple and hopes to inspire many other girls and men and inspire many other couples, girls or boys,  that anything is possible, including for the LGBTQI community.

“We hope that other girls and other men can come out who they are. “It doesn’t matter who you’re with or what you love or how you identify yourself. “Everyone is equal, everyone’s got a heart and everyone’s human. “We hope to inspire people to take that path and be proud of who they are as individuals.”

Whilst Antonio embraces the new teammates, the banter and the fun on and off the field, she said the Dockers are like a second family and being able to turn to teammates, describing it as “special”.

“The team bonding is something I love about team sport,” Antonio said. “You count on everyone else to chip in and they count on you. “To have people count on you makes you want to play at your best every single week.”

Whilst the sport of footy means a lot to her over the past six years and how she met Kara, she loves playing with the Dockers, loves the tackles, white line fever and contests.

“We work full-time but footy’s a bit part of who I am today and it’s how I met Kara,” she said. “Footy means so much to me and I’m going to miss is dearly when I do retire but I don’t have plans to do that yet. “I wear my heart on my sleeve when I go out there and have so much white line fever. “I play every game of my life like it’s my last.”

Since playing at the elite level, from a football perspective, she looks up to the likes of watching Dale Kickett and Matthew Pavlich, Tony Modra and Troy Cook on how they played the game, as well as their professionalism. Antonio shared why Pavlich was one of her favourites.

“The way that Pav lead the team for so many years and we were so close to the premiership but just couldn’t get it done. It was pretty saddening see,” Antonio said. “I was actually there on grand final day where they lost and I was more upset for Pav because everything that he put into the club and his role as captain, I was heartbroken for him.”

From a basketball perspective, three people she looked up to be the likes of Kristi Harrower, Renae Camino and Tully Bevilacqua.

“These kind of players are hard in underplays that you could see every time they cross the court, they had pure determination, never give up attitude and their athleticism and want to win is something that inspired me,” Antonio said.

Lastly, Antonio shared her words of wisdom to those wanting to improve their game.

“To improve your game and improve as a player, you’ve got to be willing to put yourself in situations that you’re not comfortable with. If  you can be outside the box and not always take the easy route, it will go a long way with your career and how far you go,” she said.

“Be open to feedback, whether it’s constructive feedback or not, you have to be willing to learn from everything. “No one is perfect. “I still make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes on the footy field and that’s just the game of footy.

“If you can learn from mistakes and be willing to want to learn from it and work hard, have the determination to be better than you were the day yesterday, you can go along way over score.”