Collingwood Magpies vice captain Brittany Bonnici is considered one of the best young players in the AFLW but away from the field is where her passion has taken off.
From a young age, Bonnici has been giving back to the community but it all started when she volunteered as a 15-year-old at Broadmeadow Special School.
At the time, her sister who was working there allowed her to come down and help in their sports classes.
"It was eye-opening and it sort of made me realise the quality of life people can still have no matter what," Bonnici said.
"I think once I opened my eyes to see how much different things affect different people, it made me start to realise how different everyone is no matter how similar we are," she said.
This experience plus her sister already working in the field would lead her down the path of where she is today with the 21-year-old currently completing a Bachelor of Social Work at Victoria University.
The 2017 AFLW NAB Rising Star nominee chose to study the course because of her passion to look at different peoples lives and the journeys they take.
"I've always had a passion for different people and their journeys, what different people have been through what brings them to where they are and how everyone's life so different, but similar the same time," Bonnici said.
"We go to school and we work but everyone so different and everyone has different paths that they take, some people don't have it as easy as others.
"Some people choose different paths than others and some people need guidance. I just wanted to be a part as many different journeys as I could," she said.
In a mission to continue helping the community, Bonnici also does work with Ladder, the official charity of the AFL Players Association and was founded by three AFL players.
The organisation was established in 2007 to help young people break the cycle of homelessness and give them the tools to take control of their lives.
Across Australia, 36,000 young people go to bed each night homeless and between 2011 and 2016 there was an increase of 14 percent. However, homelessness isn't what people would typically think it is.
Bonnici has been involved in a number of workshops including fitness, cooking workshops and one recently where homeless youth were able to get haircuts, for some it was the first they have had in years but overall she also wants to get the word out there about what homelessness is.
"I think so many people think homelessness is living on the street and that is not the case, it is so much more," Bonnici said.
"It's couch surfing, it's not knowing where you're going to stay the night, it's not having a steady place to live," she said.
Being an athlete at the highest level has not only allowed Bonnici to do what she loves but she can also have a platform to tell people about her other passions in life.
"We have so many girls who are passionate about this sort of stuff, it really gives us an opportunity to step out and express ourselves and speak about all these important matters in the world," she said.
Continue following Brittany on her journey through @Britbonnici on Instagram and @britbonnici on Twitter.
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