Geelong AFLW signing Caitie Tipping on how chance meeting kickstarted code switch from volleyball

An unlikely meeting at Adidas was the catalyst for Aussie volleyballer Caitie Tipping’s code switch. The in-demand tall opens up on her whirlwind year and why she chose Geelong.

Caitie Tipping in her Geelong guernsey. Picture: Geelong Cats

Geelong is renowned for plucking players out of nowhere.

However, this time a chance meeting with the Cats’ rivals was the catalyst for Australian volleyballer Caitie Tipping’s unlikely code switch.

Tipping’s whirlwind rise — which saw her land at Geelong last month on a three-year deal — bizarrely began when she served someone from Hawthorn at an Adidas store in February.

As the 24-year-old put it, she got “scouted at work”.

“I used to work at Adidas in Canberra, because I was training at the AIS and you need to work to pay the bills,” Tipping said.

“And someone from Hawthorn happened to come to the store and thought I was tall and thought I played sports, so just posed the question and it just kind of went from there.

“They were part of the men’s side, so not even part of the women’s side.

“I had like eight weeks to muster up some sort of skills to show them when I was back down in Melbourne to visit my family.”

Caitie Tipping is a former Australian volleyballer. Picture: Instagram

Tipping had experienced the rigours of professional sport, playing volleyball for her country, at college in the United States and professionally in Sweden, but she had never played a game of Aussie rules in her life.

Suddenly, she had roughly half the AFLW competition clamouring for her services.

The 191 centimetre athlete – three centimetres shorter than the tallest player in history, former Geelong ruck Erin Hoare – practised her kicking daily with her partner Jayden Sawyer, a Paralympic gold medallist himself.

She also trained with Ainslie Football Club in Canberra in preparation for meeting with AFLW clubs.

Then she was put through her paces under the watchful eye of AFLW club staff.

“Honestly, I’m not too sure how many clubs there were. I did visit about five, and all the clubs in their own way were absolutely brilliant – it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before,” Tipping said.

“Coming into a new sport where I know pretty much nothing and having to learn a skill from scratch, it’s pretty nerve wracking to then be put under that sort of spotlight and test. But the more I did it, obviously the more confident I got.”

Geelong was the last club she tested with, and coach Dan Lowther and Cats AFLW list manager Ben Waller helped put her at ease in their meeting, joking throughout that they had rolled out the red carpet for her.

Caitie Tipping has signed with the Cats. Picture: Geelong Cats

“They had the opening of the new changerooms for the women’s and they said that was specifically for me,” Tipping recalled.

“Just little jokes like that, that just made it feel super comfortable.

“It felt like I wasn’t talking to a head coach or a list manager, it didn’t make me feel nervous at all. So that definitely helps in terms of getting to know everyone pretty easy.”

Tipping was officially signed by the Cats in November, just nine months after this unlikely journey began.

Were the Hawks miffed?

“I’m not too sure, but I definitely am appreciative of all the help for getting me this far so far,” Tipping said.

“There was just something that I connected to at Geelong which made me feel drawn to them and perhaps it was just the culture and the people. It was just an easy pick in the end I think.”

Tipping will likely be used in the ruck where her height, leap and mobility can help her translate from the game of volleyball to the AFLW.

It was difficult to walk away from volleyball, but she is excited by the challenge of learning a new sport.

“I think I achieved everything I wanted to achieve in my time in volleyball, so it wasn’t like I was leaving it short at all,” Tipping said.

“I went to college, I played professionally, I made the Australian team. So I don’t think I could ever not be proud of my journey with it.

“I think sport is a funny one, you can have very early success or you can never have success at all and I think athletes are always striving for what’s next.

“I think footy gives me that option to keep striving for what’s left out there.

“I think with volleyball I set a high expectation of myself. Coming into this no expectation can be set yet. So I feel actually really free going into this new journey and try and just take it one day at a time and not rush the journey at all.”

In a nice touch, Tipping will wear the No.4 guernsey she wore for Australia at the Cats.

However, there will be one big adjustment from her European winters in Sweden.

“I was in the thick of the snow, so I’m definitely going have to get used to heat. Stay hydrated, sunscreen it up,” Tipping said with a laugh.

“I was in Australia this past year, so I’ve had a summer. But before that it’d been like four years of no summer, so I’m happy to get some vitamin D.”

Originally published as Geelong AFLW signing Caitie Tipping on how chance meeting kickstarted code switch from volleyball