Hawks star Jasmine Fleming is turning her passion for football to a grassroots level to provide opportunities for the next generation's AFLW stars.
In an exclusive interview with Zero Hanger, Fleming discussed her work in the girl's league and why it's a cause close to her heart.
"I currently have a role with Ashy (Ashburton) Redbacks, my local club, going to primary schools in the area, basically trying to just promote AFL and sport to girls," Fleming said.
"After Covid there was a drop off at the club with girls' footy, so mainly just to go out and give the girls an opportunity to see AFLW players and just try and get them back into the sport ... I also do some coaching at Ashy, so I'm able to kind of help them develop and get them into the sport."
The scheme has worked, as Ashy Redbacks now has a girls team in every age group, excluding Youth League. This creates opportunities that Fleming herself did not have access to.
"I started Auskick when I was three or four with the boys at Ashy Redbacks. I played from Auskick all the way up to under nines with the boys," Fleming said.
"Then I stopped playing footy for two years because at that stage there really wasn't AFLW ... I kind of felt like I was forced out of footy at that age, probably 10 or 11."
The announcement of the AFLW league in 2016 provided the opportunity for Fleming to return to the sport, once again with the Ashy Redbacks, and she hasn't looked back since.
"It got to kind of my draft year and everything, it was pretty easy to see that footy was the pathway for me," Fleming said.
Creating that pathway for other girls has become a special part of Fleming's career.
"It makes my week when I get to go down to training, because you see the joy of junior sport," Fleming said.
"It's still not perfect, but there's definitely more opportunity for nearly all sports now, because of how much women's sport is booming...getting girls playing any sport I think is the most important thing. But if football is something they want to do, then it's giving them the opportunity to climb girls' teams all the way through."
