Football teaches young girls and women positive body image, writes Carlton star Darcy Vescio

Carlton AFLW star Darcy Vescio was sitting in a chair having her hair and make-up done when a woman’s innocent remark stayed with her — and made her reflect on her own journey.

Darcy Vescio models a T-shirt she designed to inspire young girls to play football. Picture: Kate Salemme

It’s early in the morning and I’m sitting in the Melbourne Museum getting ready to help launch a new initiative. I’m engaged in a conversation with the woman doing my hair and make-up, covering topics including her freelance work, before we move onto my football journey. She’s thrilled I’m part of the AFLW and says it’s so important women can now play at the top level.

She’s got a couple of kids, including a young girl, so naturally I ask if her daughter plays footy.

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“Oh definitely not,” she replies, as she explains she believes football is too rough and would never let her daughter play.

As the footy conversation fizzled out and we ventured into other topics, I let her answer brush past me because I’d heard this type of response before. But for some reason it stayed with me this time.

Darcy Vescio models a T-shirt she designed to inspire young girls to play football. Picture: Kate Salemme

When I’ve previously heard replies like that, it’s come from young girls whose parents believe footy isn’t the sport for their daughters and I usually tell the girls to keep nagging their parents.

I’m aware parents are worried about “the risks” — injuries are the other reason given when I’ve asked people I’ve met if their daughters play footy, with concerns about ACLs and concussion the most common response.

I understand the concern — no one wants to get hurt playing sport — but the reality is injuries are not only part of sport but part of life. We can get hurt playing footy as much as we can get hurt lifting a table.

If we lived in a constant state of fear or self-protection, would we have the courage to chase our dreams — be them in sport, our careers or life in general?

Deep down I know I owe a lot to football but not for the reasons many would expect. The opportunities and platform footy have given me are incredible and not something I ever anticipated, but the most important impact it’s had on my life came long before the inception of AFLW.

I fell in love with footy at a young age and I’ve been playing since I was five years old. I spent hours outside kicking the ball into the air as high as I could before trying to mark it with outstretched arms. Dropping it meant a falcon to the face. I’d take diving chest marks on the dry grass and our couches used as speccy bags.

Trees were goals, gates were goals, doorways were goals, basically any two inanimate objects creating a visible gap were goals. If leather poisoning existed, I would have suffered greatly from it throughout my childhood.

Darcy Vescio loves footy and using her strong body to play the game she loves.

I’m often asked “why football?” I played tennis, basketball and netball growing up, but footy was always my favourite.

When I strip it back and think about how I felt playing each of those sports and the skills they require, what stands out about footy is that it’s a full-body experience and a game played on pure instinct — I love that, even though it might annoy the coach sometimes.

When the ball is bouncing and you’re chasing it at full pace, all you’ve got is your body and your instincts. It’s like you’re hunting a rabbit — even though I’ve never actually hunted a rabbit.

The ball is hopping from side to side, each bounce as unpredictable as the next. You watch the way it’s hitting the ground, the way it tumbles and then hope it sticks when you make your move. I loved learning the quirks of the Sherrin and madly embraced the physicality of the contest.

As a little girl, there aren’t many circumstances where you’re praised for being tough and your body seen as your weapon.

Vescio isn’t afraid to fly for marks. Picture: Getty

The Carlton star has played footy since she was five years old.

Footy taught me how to get back up when I’m knocked down — yes, I mean that literally and figuratively. I learnt how to safely tackle and be tackled. It taught me that my body is as much capable of propelling itself into the air as it is driving itself into the ground.

At times it hurt, but mostly it didn’t. It’s a game that rewards you for keeping your feet and staying in the moment. You learn quickly that your body is tough and it can handle more than you think.

When I reflect on playing footy as a young girl growing up, these learnings, as small as they may seem, made me realise exactly what I’m capable of and gave me confidence and pride in what my little body could do.

Footy has laid strong foundations for me to have a positive relationship with my body — which is a constant battle for many young girls and women because of perceived body and beauty standards.

But footy smashed those concepts for me. My body has always been function over form. I know how important it is to keep it strong and healthy.

Talking to parents about why they won’t let their girls play footy is tricky. I can understand why it might seem like a dangerous, unpredictable game. But the reality is, it can transform the way young girls and women understand and live in their own bodies.

It did for me.

Originally published as Football teaches young girls and women positive body image, writes Carlton star Darcy Vescio