{"id":102617,"date":"2022-04-06T17:01:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T07:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/?p=102617"},"modified":"2022-04-06T17:01:16","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T07:01:16","slug":"antonio-teaching-and-taking-in-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2022\/04\/06\/antonio-teaching-and-taking-in-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonio teaching and taking in lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

IT has been quite a decorated journey for Kara Antonio<\/a>. She represented Melbourne in the historic AFL Women’s exhibition matches, worked for the club, represented Victoria and Western Australia, before being drafted as a marquee player for the Fremantle Dockers. She hopes there are many more career landmarks to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antonio is the eldest of three children, juggling multiple sports in her earlier years before making her decision to play football and winning several premierships. She has been living in Perth for over nine years and in reflection of her journey says she loves the state, where she is currently a teacher at SEDA College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt got to the point I was playing junior footy, netball, little athletics, you name it,” Antonio said. “My mum said ‘you\u2019re going to have to pick a sport, I can\u2019t keep doing this, running around your siblings’. I chose footy, I played junior footy with the boys and moved up through the ranks to the Under 18 girls and into the women\u2019s league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was born and raised in Victoria. I played a lot of my football in South East Melbourne. I then moved over to the western suburbs and I won a premierships with the St Albans Spurs, now known as the VU Western Spurs, which was pretty special. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The year after we won the flag, I decided that I needed a big of a sea change and made the move over to Perth. I was meant to come here for a year but I\u2019ve been here for nine years, which has flown by. I love it over here in Perth. I love the lifestyle here, I\u2019m happily married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, I\u2019m just really enjoying playing and being down at the Fremantle Football Club and I\u2019m really proud to pull on that jumper every week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antonio has faced a number of injuries along the way, but is grateful for the support networks, her teammates and club that have kept her driven and striving for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a knee reconstruction, I\u2019ve had a shoulder reconstruction and a couple of ongoing knee issues across my career,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes, you can go into situations thinking that you are mentally headstrong and that you can conquer the world. If anything, injuries, it can teach you a different story and it can allow you to grow and develop your mind and body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe setbacks have been the injuries and you learn how to deal with them. There\u2019s no other choice then to push through and see light at the other end of the tunnel, but you have to go through good days and bad days. The support networks that I\u2019ve had in the past has really got me through some of the darkest days of trying to overcome injuries, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing with wife, Ebony Antonio has been special from WAFLW to AFLW. Kara Antonio shared how important that connection has been, given the pair have won flags together at Swan Districts and hope a flag at Fremantle is ticked off shortly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love being able to spend time together at footy and share the incredible journey that we\u2019ve been on over the last six years at the Dockers,” Antonio said. “It\u2019s nice to have some downtime in the offseason and not speak or think about it. We tend to go on a few holidays which is nice and something we look forward to. We\u2019re both obviously driven, committed and determined individuals that want success and when we push and drive each other, it makes the journey more enjoyable and worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst shining on the football field, Antonio is currently juggling life as a SEDA teacher, where she is teaching in the Fremantle Dockers Football program. Whilst there were challenges, including being in the hub in Melbourne during Covid times, Antonio is grateful for the college being supportive as a athlete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love it,” she said. “I love my job and I feel like I\u2019ve got the best job in the world. It has its days, don\u2019t get me wrong but I love the college, I love our school and what we\u2019re about. We\u2019re about developing really strong individuals and walking the journey of education together. We\u2019re a Year 11 and 12 school and the exciting thing is that you get a year 11 group and you take them through all the way through year 12, so you get your kids for two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs teachers, we\u2019re mentoring that next group of young people through their journey in life and we absolutely love what we do there. The kids that we interact with every day are rippers and make our job a little more enjoyable and easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn terms of challenges, there were a couple of challenges but I\u2019ve got an incredible boss and principal that supported me through that entire process. We\u2019re really flexible. We did a bit of online teaching, which was hard and difficult from both a teacher and student point of view but we made it as interactive as possible and I had some pretty cool people around me in the hub that I utilised and got speaking to our students, which they really enjoyed. I can\u2019t obviously thank the principal and college enough for the support that they gave and showed me through that whole process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst Antonio has been a star of the competition for a number of seasons, she believes consistency is key to be on top of your game in a tightly, contested competition every week. There are three key components that she focuses on each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re working full-time, we\u2019re on our feet constantly,” she said. “Depending on what work you\u2019re doing, it can be mentally draining. You rock up to training and you train for a couple of hours on the field. Sometimes, consistency goes in ebbs and flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me personally, it\u2019s focusing on my strengths and weapons and I\u2019m in the team and for me, that\u2019s my leadership and knowledge of the game and my work rate. If I can have an impact in those three areas, I feel like I\u2019ve done my job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst Antonio doesn\u2019t have any specific game day rituals, other than getting on the ground with bare feet, staying calm and being in the moment, she has embraced playing in a team sport, being in a fun team environment and what motivates or inspires her to give her best on the training track. That includes family and wanting to make them proud, as well as the fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to make the purple army, purple faithful really proud and bring them home the premiership that they\u2019ve been waiting for a very long time,” she said. “Those are kind of the things that motivate me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe other thing is that discipline element to it. Things like ‘what\u2019s your opponent doing?’. If I\u2019m up early going to the gym, I\u2019m getting an edge on them. It\u2019s a mental game for me, knowing that I\u2019m taking all those extra boxes and getting myself mentally and physically right for game day and training to be the best that I can be for the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe banter, the camaraderie, the jokes and laughs are the best thing being in a team environment. If you\u2019re not having fun in what you\u2019re doing, there\u2019s no point doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve created down at Freo over the last six season is finding that really good balance between banter and fun, then getting the work done and knuckling down. I love rocking up to training and seeing the girls, they put a smile on my face and they make it all worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst the sport of footy has meant everything to her since the age of eight in the fields of working, playing and coaching, Antonio loves the game in how it brings together people from different backgrounds, ages, gender, skills and abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since playing at the top level, two players that Antonio has found challenging are her teammate, Kiara Bowers<\/a> and Melbourne legend, Daisy Pearce<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to go head to head with Kiara Bowers, which was quite interesting and we\u2019ve had some very good battles over the years,” she said. “Turbo was my hardest opponent to be honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSecond to that, I used to love lining up against Daisy Pearce, from Melbourne. I\u2019ve had a lot of footy against her in Melbourne. Coming up against her when we take on is always an interesting battle and arm wrestle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antonio has had many heroes and role models she looks up to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, my mum, my grandma, my sister,” she said. “Other ones are people like Debbie Lee<\/em><\/strong> and what she\u2019s had to overcome in her career, both on and off the field. She\u2019s driven the AFLW space in more what than one and definitely that group of really strong women have my inspiration and who I look up to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, Antonio shares her words of wisdom to those out there wanting to improve their game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt takes hard work, dedication and commitment,” she said. “You\u2019ve got to keep working on your weaknesses and work on your strength. Don\u2019t let anyone tell you that you can\u2019t do something. If you\u2019ve got a dream or an aspiration, do everything that you can do to put yourself in the best position to achieve that. Life is too short to be sitting back and how to get in and get your hands dirty and make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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