New Fremantle women’s league signing Kim Mickle is excited about a change of pace.
And not just because she is about to embark on a lifelong goal of playing elite football, but because she gets to do so with a group of motivated professionals.
Mickle is one of two Fremantle rookie selections for the inaugural season of the national AFL women’s league competition in 2017.
Eligible rookie selections must not have played football for three seasons prior to 15 June, 2016.
Mickle won gold for Australian in javelin at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and famously dislocated her shoulder in the recent Rio Olympics.
Freo go for Mickle gold
The 31-year-old is expected to be ready for the preseason after having shoulder surgery, and is confident in her ability to maintain a disciplined routine.
However, she is aware of the challenges that moving to a more aerobically based sport might present.
“I think I’ve got my work cut out for me,” she said.
“My work ethic is amazing – I literally won’t stop and like everyone saw in Rio, my shoulder popped out.
“But my biggest fault is that I overtrain.
“With footy, the training type is very different – a lot of cardio and a lot of kilometres.
“I’ve been doing javelin my whole life so being able to change things up and add some cardio skills and some ball work really excites me.
“I’m a power athlete so trying to transition into a cardio sport is going to be interesting.”
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However Mickle expects her evolution into a footballer to be made easier by the move into a team-based environment.
“Coming into the club for a training session, I am going to be beaming because there is going to be 20 other girls doing the same thing as me instead of me doing it by myself,” she said.
“The hardest thing about javelin throwing is that I do 14 sessions a week, I get one day off on a Sunday and most of my sessions are done by myself or with one other training partner.
“It’s very individual, it can be very hard to stay motivated and the time you have to put into training is huge.
“It’s going to be great to be able to train with a team and have that atmosphere around me instead of doing it as an individual.”
Mickle comes from a footballing background; her dad played for West Perth and her brother was a development coach for Peel Thunder.
She also had a lifelong interest in playing the game, but was limited by opportunity.
“I’ve always wanted to play football but it wasn’t available (in my childhood),” Mickle said.
“It’s cool that it’s sprung up and become an elite sport. I can’t wait to give it a go.“
