{"id":37896,"date":"2018-07-25T20:32:27","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T10:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afldraftcentral.com.au\/?p=37896"},"modified":"2021-11-12T06:25:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T20:25:47","slug":"love-of-the-game-inspires-de-angelis-to-chase-aflw-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2018\/07\/25\/love-of-the-game-inspires-de-angelis-to-chase-aflw-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Love of the game inspires De Angelis to chase AFLW dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAST year, Eastern Ranges midfielder,\u00a0<\/span>Gabriella De Angelis <\/b>used football as a method of stress relief to calm her nerves. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, the 17 year-old has instilled the belief in herself to try and achieve her ultimate goal, thanks to her love of the sport. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do (have my sights set on AFLW),\u201d she said. \u201cSince about last year\u2026 I said I was just going to play and just go back to loving the game because I\u2019ve always played because I love the game. \u201cSo now I\u2019m just going to give it my best shot and see how I go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

De Angelis discovered her love of the game at a very young age when she began playing Auskick. Even after taking a hiatus from the game, she admits that she still loved playing and was glad that she picked up the sport again. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was playing Auskick at Donvale and then moved with the boys in under 11s and under 12s I think for two or three seasons, and then I stopped because I didn\u2019t think there was anything, I didn\u2019t know there was a girls competition,\u201d De Angelis said. \u201cSo I had a break for a season and a bit and then someone told me they were playing footy. \u201cI joined Whitehorse and stayed there ever since and I\u2019ve just loved it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with Whitehorse, the 17 year-old also played with the Eastern Ranges, represented Vic Metro at the AFL Women\u2019s Under 18 Championships and now pulls on the boots for the Southern Saints in the Victorian Football League (VFL) Women\u2019s competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

When she was approached to play for the Saints, she was in shock. De Angelis also experienced a feeling that she has become accustomed to in Aussie Rules, feeling the nerves before her first hit-out with the side. But she admits that after she overcame that hurdle, she has enjoyed being a Saints player. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they said St Kilda wants to talk to you, I didn\u2019t believe it,\u201d De Angelis said. \u201cI love the game but I never thought it would really go anywhere. \u201cI was really nervous at the start (of my first game) and then I got into the game, I kicked a goal. \u201cI\u2019m really enjoying it there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The opportunity to play with the Saints comes after she finished playing with the Eastern Ranges this year. While she admits it\u2019s sad to finish off at the club, this season in particular was one to remember. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my favourite Academy season,\u201d De Angelis said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s just because it\u2019s my last one but I really, really loved it. \u201cI felt I improved a lot more so yeah I really enjoyed it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She attributes this improvement to learning off both the older and younger players in the side. De Angelis admits that she often turns to them for advice on her game, which shows the camaraderie of the TAC Cup Girls side. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love playing with them because they push me to do better things. \u201cI can look up to even the ones that are younger than me, their skill, their knowledge. \u201cI just love learning from them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

De Angelis got the opportunity to play with some of her Eastern Ranges teammates in the “Big V”, as they travelled up to the Gold Coast to face off against the best female footballers in the country. The 17 year-old overcame some heartache last year to make the side, but is glad she got to represent her state this year. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t make Metro last year, didn\u2019t really expect to and I didn\u2019t really expect it this year so I\u2019m over the moon to get another opportunity,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only has De Angelis played representative football, but she also used to play representative basketball. Like many other TAC Cup Girls players, she juggled basketball and football for many years. After some deep thought, she decided to make football her sole sport. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very tough decision (to give up basketball),\u201d she said. \u201cIn Year 11, I was playing rep basketball and footy and they got a bit too much so mum said ‘you have to choose’. \u201cI\u2019ve stopped playing basketball now to focus on footy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now in Year 12, footy is still the focus for De Angelis, but she also has another career path in mind for the future. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEventually, I\u2019d like to go into the police force but I\u2019ve just got to work out what I really want,\u201d the Vic Metro representative said. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the moment, De Angelis is enjoying her time at the Southern Saints and has excelled in both Eastern Ranges and in Vic Metro colours. In her most recent game for the Saints, De Angelis recorded 10 disposals and laid three tackles. Her side next plays Hawthorn on Saturday at Trevor Barker Beach Oval. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAST year, Eastern Ranges midfielder,\u00a0Gabriella De Angelis used football as a method of stress relief to calm her nerves. Now, the 17 year-old has instilled the belief in herself to try and achieve her ultimate goal, thanks to her love of the sport. \u201cI do (have my sights set on AFLW),\u201d she said. \u201cSince about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":31946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11589,18216,278,7950,8,3121,137],"tags":[5351,46,3660,11647,9539,4717,2802,1880],"class_list":["post-37896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eastern-ranges","category-eastern-ranges-girls","category-feature-articles","category-nab-league-girls","category-news","category-vflw","category-womens","tag-afl-womens-under-18-championships","tag-eastern-ranges","tag-gabriella-de-angelis","tag-gabriella-de-angelis-feature","tag-nab-league-girls-features","tag-southern-saints","tag-vflw","tag-vic-metro"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87885,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37896\/revisions\/87885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}