When Jess Foley reflects on her time in sport, she knows how lucky she is to have not only lived out her dream as a basketballer, but also to be a part of history as an AFLW player.

Foley claimed a WNBL Championship with Adelaide Lightning in 2008.

As fate would have it, she then helped the Adelaide Crows to a premiership alongside her former Lightning teammate Erin Phillips close to 10 years later, with the Crows defeating Carlton in the 2019 AFLW decider.

"I'll look back on that grand final as one of the most amazing experiences of my sports career," she said.

"There were 53,000 people there for a stand alone female sporting match.

"I was looking up at the stands in the third quarter nearly in tears thinking, wow, this is just something that is pretty rare and unique and I'm so lucky to be a part of it."

Foley moved to Wodonga when she was five and quickly become involved in the region's sporting community.

Basketball became her passion, with her efforts seeing her invited to the Australian Institute of Sport when she was 16.

It wasn't long before her talent took her overseas, joining Duke University to play college basketball for the Blue Devils from 2002-2005.

"Basketball in America is just a different level particularly at one of those schools, it was a bit of an eye-opening experience for me," she said.

"Playing in the Cameron Indoor Stadium is pretty special just in itself.

"To be able to be a part of that and the history of Duke women's basketball is pretty great."

Foley was drafted into the WNBA in 2006 by Indiana Fever, however injuries proved to be a setback.

But it didn't stop her from experiencing the game in Europe, playing a season in Turkey.

"As an import playing over there there's a lot of expectation," she said.

"It's a hard lifestyle, but it's an amazing opportunity for someone to make a living off it."

She claimed a Gold Medal at the University Games in 2007.

Foley's racked up over 250 WNBL games, starting out with Adelaide before spending time at Dandenong and Townsville, before later rejoining the Lightning.

She also represented Australia at junior and senior levels.

Foley finished up her time in the WNBL in 2015, but her hard work and perseverance was far from over as she continued her off-court challenge- studying medicine.

"The commitment to medicine got pretty big, so I decided to retire from basketball," she said.

"When I was living at Duke University a couple of my mentors academically were doctors and I used to shadow them in the hospital.

"I didn't grow up thinking that I could be a doctor and it wasn't really something that I saw a lot of females doing.

"Now there's a lot of females becoming doctors, but back then it was a very male dominated profession.

"It wasn't until my late 20s when my basketball career was winding down that I thought I'd like to give it a go."

As she took a new path professionally, another door was also opening for her in terms of sport.

It led her to be drafted to the Crows at pick 30 in 2018.

"A friend of mine was coaching the Adelaide Crows and said, 'I think you'd be good at football, why don't you come and do training with one of the local teams," Foley said.

"I went and started training when I could outside of work.

"I was really enjoying it because there were no expectations, I didn't have that long history of thousands of hours of training behind me.

"There was a bit of freedom with football and I really enjoyed the camaraderie, team atmosphere and community feel.

"I got into it not really ambitious to play AFLW, but one thing led to another, and a year later I was playing for the Adelaide Crows and we won a premiership."

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While she had grown up kicking the football, it was ultimately her skills as a basketballer which allowed her to stand out on the field.

"Playing in the ruck, there's a lot of movement and physical skills that overlap between the two (sports)," she said.

"I was lucky enough at Adelaide to have two other basketballers around me with Anne Hatchard and Erin Phillips.

"The three of us were in the midfield and I was sort of tapping it to them like you would on a basketball court. It felt very natural.

"For football I certainly had to improve my distance and endurance running."

While the 38-year-old has now hung up her boots, she's still involved in the AFLW as an assistant coach with Geelong, on top of working as a general practitioner.

"Growing up I never thought that I was going to be a professional athlete," she said.

"Doors have opened with a bit of hard work.

"I'm very grateful for all of those opportunities and the people that I've met along the way."

She thanks her family, including her parents John and Chris, for their unwavering support.

"There was a lot they gave up for my sporting career," she said.

"That's a big part of my story, that my family was such a big part of it."

She relishes seeing the AFLW competition continue to go from strength to strength.

"There's absolutely no reason why women can't play the sport, and it's the same with every other sport," she said.

"The opportunity is there and girls can be whatever they want to be."

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