Leading the pack NICOLE ROACHE, MARKETING MANAGER
Stephanie Williams left her home in Wagait Beach on the Cox Peninsula, just 8kms or a ferry trip from Darwin, aged 11. She left her mum and sister, for the opportunities an education down south presented. Little did she know that after three years at Worawa Aboriginal College in Healesville, that a Smith Family Scholarship would bring her to The Geelong College, and then to the Geelong Cats as the College’s first listed AFLW player. Steph describes her childhood memories of football as mixed. While she loved kicking things, balls, plastic bottles, basically anything she could find on the ground, she hated what football stood for, in her mind. “I loved all sport, but we never really had the time or money for all the sports that I wanted to play. My mum really didn’t want me to play footy because it’s so physical, and it wasn’t for girls, so I only really had the opportunity to play netball. I hated football; up north at the time all I could relate footy with was a lot of alcohol and a lot of violence. I also didn’t
have the good father role model to teach me about footy, so it felt male dominated and negative to me.”
and that there might be more opportunities for her football if she stayed in Victoria.
It all changed when her friend invited her for a kick of the footy when she arrived at Worawa, where they had a girls’ footy team.
“They told me I should probably try to do the harder schoolwork in a mainstream school. They also said because I was good at footy, I should stay in Victoria.
“My friend changed my whole view. When we were out kicking the footy, she told me I was good at it and asked me to be on the team, so I thought whatever and I did.”
“I put in heaps of different scholarship applications, in Adelaide, in Sydney, MLC, Pymble Ladies’ College and Wesley, basically any school you could think of. Some of them fell through and my mum wasn’t too fond of the purple colour, so she said maybe not Wesley.
From there Steph began to turn heads with her dashing game style and natural talent. “Eventually I got really good and people noticed. I started playing in different teams in Victoria and the NT, playing a lot more and getting different opportunities. I found I loved it because of the sisterhood, looking after each other, celebrating each other and the big team environment. Also, I had a whole oval to run… I love running, especially running away from people, it’s very exhilarating. When the ball would go somewhere, I would pick it up and run with it. Sometimes a bit too far so people were telling me to bounce the ball, which I had to learn.” In 2017 Steph was told that she should try mainstream schooling and encouraged to apply for scholarships,
14 Ad Astra Issue No 139
“In December I got an offer from Geelong College! Out of all the options, for some reason, this was the school… “Honestly, I didn’t think I would stay for even a week. It was daunting, totally different to what I was used to. I saw the flash uniform and I thought oh no, this school might be too flash for me, but I just moved past that and met all the lovely people. “In my time here I think that’s what has really got me through, all the different people you meet. It’s been a good time. I’m getting a bit emotional now it’s almost over, but it’s been good.” In her final year at College, Steph was the Mossgiel Captain, a Prefect and Captain of the Inaugural College AFLW team.
