Gabriela Caeli Sumampow

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Josephine Coppock enjoyed delving into the world of sports, taking up one sport at a time. But after much exploring she soon realized her passion did not lie in playing sports. Rather than wasting her youth training for long hours to become a professional athlete, she would rather spend time exploring other interests.

 

The now 18 year old is currently a RMIT Journalism student, taking her passion for writing and reporting about sports further. 

 

RMIT University’s School of Media and Communication is among the world’s top 50 universities, according to the 2019 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject.

 

The first sport that caught Jo’s eye at her early stages of life was swimming, which she took up until she was 16 years old.

 

At primary school, she played soccer for six years, and tennis and gymnastics for a year. “I realized I was so terrible at soccer, I could barely kick the ball,” she said. Gymnastics, on the other hand, was “painful”, according to Jo. “I couldn’t even do a cartwheel, and I still can’t,” she said.

 

After gymnastics, Jo took a surprising detour to performing arts and took up jazz dancing. She “embarrassed” her mother with her rhythmless skills. “Dancing with you is so painful,” her mother would tell her. She ended up taking a break from experimenting with sports and kept swimming until she found her favorite sport.

 

At 2015, Jo’s sport teacher announced the establishment of a girls footy team, which Jo, who was 15 at that time, signed up for. “I wasn’t the best at it, but it was fun. It was a great environment, and I loved the club and the team,” she said. “It was different to any other sport I’ve done in the past.” 

 

While professional footy players experience concussions and torn hamstrings, Jo did not have to get a taste of any of that. “I only broke my fingers once,” she said.

 

She played for three years, and her team won three premierships.

 

Her parents were supportive of her decision to join Australia’s national sport. Her father was really keen to see one of his three girls take up a sport he played when he was younger.

 

“He was really excited because he can finally take his kids to footy,” she said. Jo’s mother, on the other hand, was also excited but cautious to a certain extent, knowing the rough nature of the sport. She hated coming to games because it was too early and cold, because Jo’s games were generally held as early as nine in the morning.

 

Australian Football League (AFL) season lasts from April to July, which is winter in Melbourne. 

 

Jo’s growing passion and focus for watching and understanding sports marked the end of her footy days. At 16 years old, Jo has written sports articles and developed a passion for sports journalism. She is currently not playing any sport at the moment because she has to focus on a new chapter in her life - University.