INDIA Rasheed has grown up around elite sport.
Now, it's her time to shine.
Rasheed, or Indi to her friends (definitely spelt with an "i" rather than "y"; she wanted that made clear), is the daughter of legendary tennis coach Roger, who had a short stint playing in the SANFL himself with Sturt, as well as his own tennis career.
Roger has coached the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Grigor Dimitrov, all of whom have been top-10 players in the world.
Indi was named South Australia's MVP at last year's under-18 championships at just 17, in a stacked team which produced draftees including Shineah Goody, Lauren Young, Piper Window and Molly Brooksby.
"I was definitely proud of myself just to follow in Goody's footsteps. She won it the year before as an underager. So I actually surprised myself a lot, because there's so many amazing players in the top age that year, and I was in my bottom age," she told AFL.com.au.
"It definitely gave me a bit of confidence going into this year, that I could compete with some of the better girls.
"I started playing footy when I was about probably four or five in Auskick, and I started playing because I just watched so much footy. I had family friends playing in the AFL, and just thought it was natural for me to play.
"Then I played at Payneham Football Club till I was 15, with the boys, then joined Glenunga."
A mad Port Adelaide fan, the Power's success this year, coupled with Rasheed's talent, means it's unlikely she'll still be available by the time their first pick comes around.
But she's got plenty of family friends to lean on for advice, reeling off a list of names including Travis Boak, Robbie Gray, Jackson Trengove, Jarman Impey, Travis Cloke and her uncle, Tyson Goldsack, who's married to her mum's sister.
Rasheed had played tennis herself till she was around 12, but didn't enjoy the individual aspect of the game, in comparison to the team environment of football.
Deceptively dry and funny, Rasheed's interview is peppered with throwaway quips and slightly absurd anecdotes around her more serious answers, like loving her aunt's sausage dog so much she pretends it's her own, or not liking cheese because Monfils also doesn't.
When asked who her favourite player was, she nominated Boak, before switching to Gray because "Trav used to bore me back in the day".
"My dad Roger was a tennis coach on the ATP tour for a long time, and he's really helped me just learn the professionalism and training standards and all those types of things," she said.
"It's mainly like extra craft sessions, learning how to make the most out of my time when I'm training. Then just extra cardio sessions, things like that. But it's also just having someone to do it with if I need, he's always up for doing it with me."
A 173cm (mid-sized) forward who can push into the midfield, Rasheed has been a powerful player for Sturt in the SANFLW, averaging 24.3 disposals and kicking 11 goals from her 12 matches this year.
She once kicked two goals in a losing Grand Final Sturt side at just 15, playing against women.
"My strengths are my kicking, my clean hands and my IQ. I've been working on improving my tackling, [kicking on] my opposite foot and contested marking. The opposite foot is a work in progress," Rasheed said.
"I just love the creativity of it, that it's a 360-degree game. You can literally run anywhere, you can kick it anywhere, you can do whatever you want.
"And then also just love the team aspect of it, it's something you don't get with a lot of sports, like the feeling after a win with your team, that's something that really drew me towards footy.
"My preferred position is in the forward line, just like a hybrid forward. I've played high, I've played deep, I get thrown into the midfield a fair bit – it's definitely not my preferred, but I've been trying to learn it.
"I definitely model parts of my game on Jeremy Cameron, that hybrid forward that gets really high up the ground, can impact on score assists and those types of things."
