The first year Sophie Peters started university, she was picked up in the National AFLW draft, which is a big deal – it means that any club can potentially sign her.
The Brisbane Lions snapped up the opportunity.
That small but important series of events reflected the momentum that Sophie’s life had been building – through sport and academia.
Kicking goals
Growing up, Sophie had always been into sport. Her older brother played footy. Her friends played sport. She wanted to get involved too.
“I grew up playing soccer with the boys,” Sophie says.
“I was usually the only girl on a lot of the little rep teams so I think that helped me later on when I started playing AFL – I was used to it being a bit more rough.”
When Sophie started playing AFL for the Maroochydore Roos, she not only fell in love with the sport, she was really good at it, getting selected to join the Brisbane Lions Academy and later on playing for QLD and Australia in the national academy team.
At the same time, Sophie was still finishing high school – where she was also excelling.
“I had no idea what I wanted to do after Year 12,” she says. “I always had an interest in health but that was about it.”
One of Sophie’s teachers suggested she look into Occupational Therapy, which appealed to her because of the range of fields you could specialise in.
“There's so many opportunities within the field,” she says. “I had no real clue what I wanted to do so it suited me – I could go anywhere with it.”
That first year she was in uni was her draft year, which saw her selected at Pick 21 for the Brisbane Lions AFLW in early December 2023.
The speedy winger made her on-field debut in Week 3 against Collingwood, with the Lions dominating the Magpies by 52 points.
“I was pretty stoked to make my debut last year,” Sophie says. “I wasn’t sure I was going to get to play at all in my first year but then I got to play four games – that was a big achievement for me.”
It’s about balance
Sophie has a laidback quality about her. She comes across as quiet, humble and unassuming but someone who has fire in their belly when the spark has been lit.
From talking with her, you get the impression she follows the path of least resistance, exploring opportunities to their fullest.
It’s what happened with AFL. It’s what happened with occupational therapy too.
But it’s equally clear she is smart, motivated and ambitious – qualities that are needed to excel in professional sport and academia.
Sophie says it’s constantly a juggling act, with no two weeks during the year looking the same.
“We train down in Brisbane five days a week,” she says. “That can happen at various hours depending on when games are scheduled.
“Then there’s travel days on top of that because games are played all around the country. A lot can change from week to week.”
But Sophie says she committed to university because she wanted to have a profession behind her once she finished her playing career.
“I just think it’s important to have something outside my football career to focus on so when I finish playing, I can have a qualification to fall back on.”
Sophie says being part of UniSC’s High Performance Student Athlete team has helped her when it comes to juggling her competing priorities.
“The uni has actually been great – everyone has been really flexible with classes,” she says.
High Performance Sport director Associate Professor Mark Sayers says the program was specifically designed to accommodate the needs of high performance athletes, who must juggle their studies with difficult training and competition schedules.
“We are absolutely advocates for our students – not only connecting them with the resources and flexibility they need but also supplying them with access to world-class facilities and specialised support services.
“We empower student-athletes to excel both on and off the field.”
For now, Sophie is focussed on what’s right in front of her.
“I just want to give footy the best I can, improving more so I can get more games in with the team,” she says.
“For uni, it’s just about continuing to work through it at a pace that works for me.”
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