Photo: Drew Ryan
Brave new world
Emma Quayle
The Age
November 25, 2006
SHOULD the AFL draft take Travis Boak away, he will miss home and he will be missed.
Last week, the teenager went to his high school valedictory dinner, with friends he has grown up with on the beach at Jan Juc. "They're all wondering what they'll be doing next year, so I'm a bit lucky in that way," Boak said.
"I know what I'll be doing, hopefully. I just don't know where I'll be doing it."
Boak can sense how much his 14-year-old sister, Cassie, looks up to him, and will miss being near her and his elder sister, Sarah. Then there is his mother, Chicki, such a devoted kick-to-kick partner that she injured her knee chasing after a loose ball this year, and had to have surgery.
"She fell to the ground and Cassie and I were laughing, telling her to get up and stop having a rest," Boak said. "I suddenly thought: 'Uh oh … I'd better get over and help, here!' "
In these ways, Boak is no different from the hundreds of young footballers who have thrown their names forward this morning, understanding that the draft might take them to a place far away, but still wishing they could choose where.
But in the days, weeks and months before his big day, Boak has thought about much more than getting through school, getting a kick, and what the recruiters might see in him.
Today he will feel nervous — then happy, he hopes, and relieved — but there will be some sadness too. Even though he knows his father, Roger, who died last year, will know exactly how things work out. "It feels like he will," Boak said. "I know he will. I know whatever happens, he'll be there with me."
For a long time, Boak didn't understand exactly how tough his dad had been. But when his mum told him Roger had fought the cancer in his stomach for a 18 months longer than his doctor thought he could, he wasn't at all surprised.
He had been inspired by his father long before then, anyway. A Carlton supporter, Boak grew up wanting to be a bit like Anthony Koutoufides, but more like the guy who wore No. 5 in 230 games for Torquay.
Already, his mum has seen him play with the same instinct that her husband displayed. "One of Roger's coaches used to call him 'Dial-a-Goal'. He'd say, 'Call Boaky, he'll get you a goal' and, sure enough, he would," Chicki said.
"He always knew what to do. He was a very smart player, very intelligent, and I can see a lot of that in Travis. You can see he's thinking all the time out there. He always seems to have time."
Football, though, was not always the game Boak thought he would play. He was a cricketer as a kid, made a couple of representative sides in Geelong, and thought that was the sport calling him.
He was a fast bowler playing in senior and junior teams. The workload caused stress fractures in his back, which he fixed for good only last summer, but which helped tell which sport he really preferred to play.
"I hated being injured. I needed a punching bag some days but, when I think back on it, it was probably a bit of a blessing," Boak said.
"All I could do was handball, and a bit of kicking, so I was doing skills, skills, skills, all the time, and I think that's made me a better player. But it just made me want to play again. I realised how much I loved footy, and that was a good thing."
Earlier confirmation had come when Boak made the AIS-AFL Academy after the national under-16 championships in 2004. He toured Ireland at Easter last year with Joel Selwood, Lachlan Hansen, Scott Gumbleton and others, and will wait to hear their names called today, too.
Last week, Boak hung out on a Queensland beach with Mitch Thorp, another academy boy keen to know which club will choose him. "We went up there to get away from the draft and not speak about it," Boak said. "It was the only thing we did talk about, in the end …"
Chicki and Cassie went on the Irish trip, too, and discovered their own network of footy friends, who have been there for them ever since.
Roger had wanted to go, but he wasn't well enough; having Chicki with him meant Boak worried less than had he been away on his own, but his mind was still full, and he thought of his dad every time he played.
He took his Australian guernsey straight home, and made sure it was hanging in his dad's hospital room when he died, three weeks later. "I gave it to him as soon as I got home. I just wanted him to have it and for him to feel really proud," Boak said.
"While I was away it was the only thing that helped me get by, thinking of him every time I was out in the jumper and wishing he was there with me.
"It was hard in some parts, but it motivated me as well. I knew my dad would just want me to go out there and play and so every time I went for the ball I wanted to go flat out, because I knew he was there with me.
"It was a terrible time. It was crazy. It was really scary sometimes. You never think something like that will happen to your family, but he was so tough and such a fighter, and that's what I keep thinking.
"He was an inspiring person and he fought as hard as he could. He didn't want to leave us, and that's something that will be with me for the rest of my life. It drives me, a fair bit."
Boak has spoken to every club since the end of the season, and knows he could end up anywhere. Both Adelaide and Port Adelaide drove out to his home last week, but he might not have to take his bags that far.
Geelong and a bunch of Melbourne-based clubs hold the eight picks between the Crows and the Power, and the odds are Boak will be chosen somewhere in there.
The team that does choose him will get its hands on a smart, speedy and skilful player who, according to Geelong Falcons regional manager Mick Turner, confirmed himself as an early pick in week six of the TAC Cup season.
"He only had half a game under his belt after his back injury. We played Queensland, who were highly rated, and he was our best player," Turner said.
"He's just a natural. He knows how to play. The great thing about Travis is that once he gets his hands on the ball, he makes a decision and releases it very quickly.
"He can sum up a situation well, he's got good hands, he can read the play, and he's a beautiful long kick on both feet. He's a bit like Brett Deledio in how he moves. He's just a very good player."
He feels fit now and ready to get fitter. Boak can't wait to get started on his first real pre-season, and to become part of a whole new team.
"It makes me a bit nervous," he said, "but it's been such a long wait. It will be so good to just get started."
He's not so keen on the other realities of moving — learning to wash his own clothes, etcetera — though Chicki had planned to teach him a few quick culinary tricks last week. "I think it will start with that and end with that," she said. "I won't even mention the iron. That's getting far too complicated!"
Like Boak, Chicki expects some relief when his name is called today, and knows there will be a few tears. The uncertainty will end, and her boy will have a chance at something he has worked hard for, and wanted badly.
"I'm extremely proud of him. Very much so," she said. "He's kept himself together and he's dealt with things most kids would never think of. He's been unbelievable. I couldn't be more proud."
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/11/24/1164341396782.html
