{"id":38657,"date":"2018-08-10T19:50:50","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T09:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afldraftcentral.com.au\/?p=38657"},"modified":"2020-04-23T07:03:48","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T21:03:48","slug":"passionate-hamilton-keeps-up-with-crazy-fast-pathway-to-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2018\/08\/10\/passionate-hamilton-keeps-up-with-crazy-fast-pathway-to-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Passionate Hamilton keeps up with “crazy” fast pathway to the top"},"content":{"rendered":"

FROM the freezing mornings out on icy grounds in Canberra,\u00a0Alexia Hamilton<\/strong>\u00a0has always had a passion for Australian Rules football. The pathway was not there at first, but when it came about, she grabbed it with both hands and has not let go.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a young girl I always admired playing AFL, but there was never really an opportunity for me to play,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cSo I played a couple of sports, soccer, basketball, I come from a Judo background as well, so bit of martial arts as well. \u201cThen my brother, he was playing at the time \u2013 he still does \u2013 and I was down at a local training, and the coach came up to me and said \u2018do you want to have a kick?\u2019 and I was like \u2018I\u2019d love to have a kick\u2019 and from there it\u2019s just been achievements, goals and just been a really great step in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton said the game had come along in leaps and bounds and it was hard to believe just how much it had grown in her years in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy,\u201d she said. This game was so fast and so evolving especially with AFLW now, but it\u2019s been hard to keep track, and with it its been very fast and a very quick journey but it\u2019s been totally worth it so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hamilton, like so many other aspiring female footballers, having the pathway gives those who love the game, an \u201cend-goal\u201d to strive towards in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing from the bottom where there was no pathway at all, even for Youth Girls, and now the pathway is almost finalised, it\u2019s an incredible feeling just to have that end-goal, and when you get there it will just be amazing. It\u2019s a dream for any footballer, really,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cI just love the competition, the fun, the teammates, the family, everything comes out of this place. \u201cJust the entire game you can form so many more bonds, you can learn so much stuff and it\u2019s just a complete enjoyment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton travels about 40 minutes to train for the Queanbeyan Tigers in the AFL Canberra competition, something she admits \u201cisn\u2019t too bad\u201d considering the lengths of which other girls travel. She describes herself as \u201cpretty lucky\u201d to have found such a great club. Her development there and with AFL NSW\/ACT has helped her adapt to the higher standard of play at the AFL Women\u2019s Under 18 Championships, representing the Eastern Allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity certainly,\u201d Hamilton said, of the chance to represent Eastern Allies. \u201cTo play with\u00a0Alyce Parker<\/strong>, and the (Chloe<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Libby<\/strong>)\u00a0Haines<\/strong>\u2018s and a couple of the girls from Tassie, and obviously our girls from NSW\/ACT, they\u2019re just fantastic to play with. \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity and the journey has been good so far with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The versatile utility said it was tough to get to know some of the Eastern Allies players that they had never met before, less than 48 hours before they would run out on the field together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all met on the Saturday night so having to all meet, (learn) names and then find out how the individuals play was a really big challenge,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cIt was a great opportunity for all of our girls to try and bond in a really tight, quick situation and then expected to play the next couple of days, so it was a great opportunity with the girls. \u201cWe all bonded really well and we had a fantastic time over the last couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton describes herself as an aggressive player who enjoys body contact and laying strong tackles to win clean possession of the football. Her goal this season was to ensure her work rate remained high, and her discipline to keep minding her opponent, remained on track.<\/p>\n

Like a number of Under-18 talents, Hamilton was able to represent the Southern Giants in the Winter Series, something she will never forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing experience,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cJust getting to play alongside and against some amazing AFLW players has been a real big opportunity for me, especially as a young player. \u201cSo it\u2019s been an amazing journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 17 year-old said her pathway to the AFL Women\u2019s Under 18 Championships, has been thanks to the development along the way, believing her skills were the biggest beneficiary of the AFL NSW\/ACT program.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy skills have improved out of sight,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cI think my ability to read the play has been a lot better and my knowledge of the game. \u201cAlso probably my fitness has improved as well, I\u2019ve been able to keep up with these ones (Eastern Allies girls) so it\u2019s been fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of football, Hamilton enjoys Judo and Oztag in Canberra, but is yet to decide on a non-football career.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment I\u2019m still at school,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cSo I\u2019m just trying to get through the year, and then hopefully look at career options and hopefully the AFLW is one of those options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton said she was able to communicate well with her school and football clubs to ensure the right balance was met in her most important year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy school at the moment is very understanding of my commitments outside of my school opportunities,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I\u2019m currently training four or five days a week for just solely football and then obviously extra-curricular activities like gym and fitness activities. “It\u2019s been a pretty full-on workload, but definitely worth it in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her most fond memory is that of her first game, which sticks with her throughout her career, while her biggest inspiration is Sydney Swans talent,\u00a0Isaac Heeney<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the freezing cold, my long socks and it was my first hit-out and it was a fantastic memory I\u2019ll always remember,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s (Heeney) one that\u2019s come through the program himself, being through the Rams himself. \u201cSeeing him come out of it and being successful is a really good goal and you know it\u2019s achievable. \u201cAlso you\u2019ve got icons in the women\u2019s everywhere \u2013\u00a0Daisy Pearce<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Tayla Harris<\/strong>. \u201cThey\u2019re all big names that I want to be like one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Hamilton\u2019s sights are firmly focused on joining the likes of Pearce and Harris in the AFL Women\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to be apart of that (draft) campaign,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cHopefully I\u2019ll go through school and everything will be sweet and I\u2019ll achieve my goals in that area and then besides that, keep going with local footy and hopefully win the championship or just keep improving with that ability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FROM the freezing mornings out on icy grounds in Canberra,\u00a0Alexia Hamilton\u00a0has always had a passion for Australian Rules football. The pathway was not there at first, but when it came about, she grabbed it with both hands and has not let go. \u201cAs a young girl I always admired playing AFL, but there was never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":37817,"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":[278,8,3129,3132,137],"tags":[6501,3571,6502,5351,5365,2598,3334,3014,4030,3333,11627,1384,6500,9599,1777],"class_list":["post-38657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-articles","category-news","category-nsw-act","category-queensland","category-womens","tag-afl-canberra","tag-afl-nsw-act","tag-afl-womens-draft","tag-afl-womens-under-18-championships","tag-alexia-hamilton","tag-alyce-parker","tag-chloe-haines","tag-daisy-pearce","tag-isaac-heeney","tag-libby-haines","tag-nsw-act-features","tag-nswact","tag-queanbeyan-tigers","tag-queensland-features","tag-tayla-harris"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38657","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\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}