Best of both worlds
Phillips inspires Monique to think she can have ...
MELBOURNE Boomers young gun Monique Conti does not need to look far when it comes to motivation.
An aspiring sportswoman pursuing a career in football and basketball, there is an obvious comparison between the diminutive point guard and Adelaide superstar Erin Phillips, who took the AFLW competition by storm in 2017.
Conti, who will be in Geelong tomorrow night when the Boomers take on Bendigo Spirit at The Arena in Round 2 of the WNBL season, has been playing football since she was 10 and basketball from the age of five and will likely have her name read out as one of the first five players selected at the AFLW draft.
But while many people had thought the time might have come to make a choice between her two loves, like Phillips, the 17-year-old said she would have no issues transitioning between the oval and round ball.
“I’ve been doing the juggling for a few years now so I’ve just got the experience in trying to do both and also the support from basketball, especially the Boomers, and from football as well,” Conti said.
“They understand that I do both sports at quite a high level which helps me, so that has been good.
“They haven’t clashed at any stage, the TAC Cup football didn’t interfere with my basketball training so that helps, but if I get drafted, potentially I’d have to miss most of the pre-season as I’m in season with the Boomers.
“That is one of the small sacrifices that I’d have to make but the football clubs understand that I’m playing basketball and that would be a priority at that stage, but then once basketball finishes the AFLW season starts, so it works out well in that sense.”
Conti said all of the football clubs that had spoken to her before next Wednesday’s draft had seen her schedule with the Boomers, meaning there would be no surprises in store for them when her name was called out.
But there is little doubt the Maribyrnong Sports Academy High School student will be fit come the start of the season.
As one of the country’s most talented junior sportswomen, Conti’s training regimen is seemingly never ending.
She trains in the morning on weekdays before attending school — and again after a long day of study — before completing homework well into the late hours of the evening.
There is no let up on the weekend, and when she is not involved in playing it is more fitness based training to maintain the high standards she has set for herself throughout her adolescent years.
The cross-training has helped Conti keep an edge over opponents and has ensured she can match it with teammates on the track, but the hardworking youngster said seeing a player such as Phillips achieve what she had in one season gave her confidence she could follow in her footsteps.
“Football definitely involves a lot of fitness type of work, especially in pre-season you do a lot of long-distance running and conditioning, and that helps on the basketball court as you’ve got to stay fit for that,” she said.
“I play as a midfielder but I can play on the wing, too, so I like to run a fair bit.
“But when I see the work Erin Philips did (with both sports) I look at that and think if she can do that then why can’t I?
“I look at that side of things and think if someone else can do it then surely I’ll be able to, so it becomes a little bit more realistic I guess.”