Meet our VFL Port Melbourne Football Club player Fab Brancatisano whom we are sponsoring for the 2016 season!

As Just In Time Personal Training has continued to grow at a rapid rate, it has always been my ambition to give back as much as I can to the community and to the people that have helped shape my life and made a big impact. One such area of my life that played a massive part has been football. I played from the age of 10 through to about 34 before retiring and then having another year at the age of 36 and have just this season started playing superrules (old man’s footy for over 35’s!) at the age of 40. In that time I was a senior assistant coach for 3 years and a senior coach for 7 years.

The 2 clubs that had the biggest impact on my life were the Coburg and Port Melbourne VFL football clubs and as such I have decided to get involved by sponsoring an up-and-coming 22 year old player (Fab Brancatisano) whom just so happens to have spent a season at Coburg, had a season at Essendon in the VFL (whom I barrack for), this season is aspiring to play senior football all year at Port Melbourne and he is also in the midst of his Exercise Science degree at VUT. Those that know me, a Tertiary degree is a must-have item for all of my team at Just In Time Personal Training and who knows, Fab (pictured above) may one day even join our team! Incidentally Fab made the final 15 players selected for this season’s Fox8 TV hit “The Recruit“. Unfortunately he was hit by a bout of Gastro just upon entering the house and didn’t land the elusive AFL contract, but you’ll need to watch the upcoming season to see how it unravels.

My 2 years at Port Melbourne were amazing, I had a fantastic coach and mentor in Michael Boyd, whom to this day I hold in the highest regard. He wrote for me the most amazing reference back when I was 17 and it made me want to aspire to fulfil all that he had said about me at the time.

Here is a link to that very reference – Port Melbourne FC Reference

We won the only under 19 Premiership that Port Melbourne has ever won back in 1993 and I treasure that time and hence my connection to the club to this very day.

My wife (Lauren) and the kids watched many Port Melbourne games in 2015 and we now have an extra bonus of looking out for Fab and watching his progress. Below is Tyler pictured at Saturday’s round 2 game where they had a win against Coburg.

Getting to the crux of this post, I thought I would share an interview that I had with Fab about all things footy, health, fitness, motivation, nutrition and goal setting. All of these things very relevant to Personal Training (ok, maybe not necessarily footy!). So here goes:

Justin: When did you realise you loved playing footy?

Fab: I was brought up in a house where my dad loved football and was a mad Essendon supporter and member before I was born and I then started Auskick when I was about 4 and I have loved every minute of it since then.

Justin: How does footy make you feel?

Fab: Playing football makes me feel happy. I know that when it’s pre-season and there’s no football, I miss it so much and when it’s footy season it’s the best time of the year pretty much.

Justin: What are the best parts of football and how do you keep motivated?

Fab: The best parts of footy are the camaraderie between your team-mates at the footy club and also the challenge of trying to get the best out of yourself. The way I keep motivated is setting goals week by week as well as long-term goals just to make sure the motivation stays there. You don’t want to just have long-term goals but you want and need to have short-term goals too.

Justin: Why did you choose Port Melbourne?

Fab: After having a year off VFL, I was really hungry to get back into the VFL system and Port Melbourne being a stand alone club offers more opportunities, Gary Ayres being a great coach and when the club got in contact with me I couldn’t really say no.

Justin: Is exercise and health a big part of your life and why?

Fab: Definitely. I love keeping fit. Obviously you have to be fit to play football and football is my main priority in life. I’m studying exercise and sports science at the moment and it links in and it plays a big part in where I want to get to in life.

Justin: What is your favourite aspect of keeping fit?

Fab: It would probably be just feeling good. The fitter you are, the better you feel and in turn the better you perform on the football field.

Justin: What do you choose to do for exercise away from football?

Fab: Away from football I do a bit of gym work to keep the strength up and I also do a lot of sprint training to make sure that my speed is there as well.

Justin: What is your approach to healthy eating and being at your best for football?

Fab: I have myself on a strict diet to maximise my performance whereby I pretty much have the same foods everyday and at the same times, starting with breakfast, some healthy snacks, lunch and then after gym I will have a protein shake and/or a protein bar and I pretty much have mum’s home cooked meal at dinner. She knows what I like and that it has to be healthy.

Justin: How did you get involved in “The Recruit”?

Fab: I got an email about the show and opportunity which I applied for that and did a fair bit of testing to get onto it and then I was lucky enough to get a call up onto the show.

Justin: What was the recent experience on “The Recruit” like?

Fab: Overall it was a good experience, getting to be coached by Mick Malthouse, one of the greatest coaches and also being away from home as I have never lived away from home and had to fend for myself before. That was all good but it was also bad because I was sick throughout the whole experience and I feel if I was right I would probably still be in the house at the moment.

Justin: What are your footy aspirations longer-term?

Fab: I still have aspirations of making the AFL. I’m still only 22 but year by year it kind of gets harder but I am not going to give up on my dream of making the AFL just yet.

Justin: What are your career aspirations away from football?

Fab: As I have mentioned I am studying my exercise sports science degree at VUT so something in the sports stream but not exactly sure at this stage. Becoming a Dietitian or the nutrition area does interest me a bit at this stage or possibly physiotherapy but I will just focus on finishing my degree first and then see where it takes me.

 

It was a pleasure to meet with Fab and discuss his football and career plans and the team at Just In Time Personal Training wish him all the best for not only his season ahead but also his career in general.

A lot of good stuff to take from that and it does very much relate to all of us with respect to commitment, dedication, a positive attitude, routines and behaviours all married up with goal setting.

Thanks for reading!

Justin Moran