{"id":57571,"date":"2019-09-06T16:14:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T06:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.localhost\/?p=57571"},"modified":"2020-04-23T06:36:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T20:36:08","slug":"miskin-ripia-developing-on-and-off-the-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2019\/09\/06\/miskin-ripia-developing-on-and-off-the-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Miskin-Ripia developing on and off the field"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOR Northern Territory (NT) prospect Shantel Miskin-Ripia<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>, her football journey is as much about past experience and future endeavours as it is about the now, playing with NT Thunder in the Victorian Football League Women\u2019s (VFLW) and gearing up for the 2019 draft. <\/p>\n

Like many others the full-back said the ultimate goal is to get drafted, but there are plenty more opportunities out there. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo get drafted, like everyone else, but nah, just to really go as far as I can and never give up, and just knowing that there\u2019s something else other than football,” Miskin-Ripia said. “If I do get drafted then yeah, that would definitely be something I would focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miskin-Ripia currently works at AFL NT, working as a game development trainee and helping the next generation of junior football tragics make their start in the sport. \u201cAfter I graduated I moved to NT then got the job, and basically I just teach kids how to play AFL, I go to different schools for clinics and I\u2019m running my own Auskick next term,\u201d Miskin-Ripia said. \u201cI work with AFL NT so training is just around the corner, my office is right where the stadium is so I basically go to work then go to training\u2026 It\u2019s so good, the support and everything. And everything\u2019s around AFL, so you know the inside and out of AFL.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like any job it has its ups and downs, but Miskin-Ripia said she loves helping young kids develop their skills, with the reward of not only seeing them enjoy their experience with the footy but also learning from the kids she meets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so good because they\u2019re just so keen. And you\u2019re also learning as well, so you\u2019re giving them and teaching them and learning different stuff as well. You get a few hard heads, that\u2019s something that you\u2019ve gotta put up with,\u201d she said. \u201cI love it. It\u2019s so good, you get a kid that\u2019s having a bad day, you just arrive at the school and they like AFL, boom, \u2018I wanna play\u2019 and it\u2019s so good. Yeah it is amazing, it actually is. I love it, I love my job, it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike many others, Miskin-Ripia was fortunate to not only start playing football at a young age, but was also able to continue playing throughout her junior years. Though she loves the sport, she said playing is as much about representing her culture as it is about the enjoyment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started in WA, played Under 10s for one of the local footy clubs,” Miskin-Ripia said. “It was just me and my sister to start, no other females were playing to start so we were kind of one of the first two girls to be involved. “And yeah, I kept playing from there. \u201cI just get to represent my culture and my family\u2026 it means that everyone can know where I come from and the opportunities I got getting out of where I used to live in Cairns, and all that … just bringing younger people up as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she started playing as a junior in Western Australia, Miskin-Ripia spent some time in Cairns before returning after graduating high school. With moving states and playing with boys for majority of her junior years, Miskin Ripia said the transition has been different, especially when playing for Central Allies in the 2019 AFL Women\u2019s Under-18 Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit more professional I\u2019d say, it\u2019s all about wellbeing and stuff right now so yeah, it\u2019s more professional than Cairns,” Miskin-Ripia said. “It\u2019s so good. “I learnt a few skills from the boys to develop my skills and then to show that coming onto the field it\u2019s great. \u201cIt\u2019s great. We\u2019ve gelled so well and come together great and got around each other a lot better \u2026 the opportunity is great, we\u2019re really embracing it and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to inspiration, Miskin-Ripia said her dad gave her a lot of the drive she has now on the footy field, striving to improve and continue to reach her goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, definitely my dad (has been the biggest inspiration),” she said. “He was a sporty person and he always taught me not to give up because I went from sport to sport, and so I just found AFL and he\u2019s just really believed in me every step of the way and supported me, so he\u2019s one of my big inspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for improvement, the full-back said that while her kicking and tackling is something she works on frequently at training, her improved communication on-field is key for the rest of the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say maybe my communication, seeing I\u2019m full back and anchor,” Miskin-Ripia said. “With all the AFL\u2019s different rules, like the anti-density, as full back I\u2019m basically the anchor. \u201cSo I have to talk and structure out everybody. “I\u2019ve just gotta get more loud I guess, and have a bigger voice and tell the team where to go and stuff like that. “Because I\u2019m full back I have to kick out so that\u2019s very important, I need to know if I can kick it long or short. “But I think also my marking, my higher up marking needs to be improved a bit but other than that it\u2019s pretty good.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR Northern Territory (NT) prospect Shantel Miskin-Ripia, her football journey is as much about past experience and future endeavours as it is about the now, playing with NT Thunder in the Victorian Football League Women\u2019s (VFLW) and gearing up for the 2019 draft. Like many others the full-back said the ultimate goal is to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":57753,"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":[5603,278,8,7232,3121,137],"tags":[11632,7698,9800,9799],"class_list":["post-57571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aflw-national-championships","category-feature-articles","category-news","category-northern-territory","category-vflw","category-womens","tag-northern-territory-features","tag-shantel-miskin-ripia","tag-shantel-miskin-ripia-afl-nt","tag-shantel-miskin-ripia-central-allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57571","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\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}