A shared passion for elite performance has seen a unique friendship blossom between Essendon star Orazio Fantasia and leading V8 Supercar driver Mark “Frosty” Winterbottom.
Essendon’s senior strength and conditioning coach Paul Turk has worked closely with the pair for a number of years, leading to a bond that has yielded many benefits for each athlete.
Winterbottom often trains beside the Bombers at The Hangar and Fantasia says it provides a great opportunity for the players to gain an important insight into the preparation and mindset of other professional athletes.
Speaking at the launch of Essendon’s new strategic partnership with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Fantasia praised Winterbottom and the impressive fitness of all elite motorsport drivers.
“It’s good to see people from other sports and see how they go about it, so Frosty’s a really good guy for me,” Fantasia said on Thursday.
“They’re crazy, they’re fit like us and strong like us. In the gym he’s unbelievable, he’s definitely stronger than a fair lot of the boys in there.
“(You can learn from) his training habits. He’s elite dieting and training all of the time, he just looks after his body super, super well.
“He looks after himself immaculately, so that’s something we can take from those guys.”
Winterbottom said the benefits are shared and highlighted a number of similarities between professional drivers and their footballing counterparts.
“It’s all about winning, we all compete in sport to be successful,” Winterbottom said.
“Although one is kicking a footy and the other is turning steering a wheel – (they are) completely different codes – they do share similarities.
“A lot of the training I do is very similar to an AFL footballer, because some of the guys (such as) the midfielders don’t want to get big, but they want to get strong, (develop) aerobic fitness, longevity and be injury-free.
“Preparation is a big thing for sport and watching professionals do it and then taking good things into your code, although they are completely different sports, you still learn and it’s all about preparation.”
Winterbottom met Fantasia before discovering he was a professional footballer, but he has since had the chance to learn more about the creative forward’s class on and off the field.
“When you see him on the field, he’s flamboyant and he’s a cool guy to watch,” he said.
“A lot of the games I go to I just go to support and see how he goes, I’m not necessarily a football tragic, but I do like good blokes and he is genuinely one of the nicest blokes you’ll meet.
“(Our friendship) goes a long way back, he’s come to a few races and hung out, but he’s just a good young guy and it’s cool to see him go well and I hope he does well in the future.”
The feeling is mutual, with Fantasia lauding Winterbottom’s willingness to collaborate with the Bombers.
“He’s a wonderful human being and very generous and caring and gives up his time to work out with us.”
The duo’s anticipation continues to build ahead of their upcoming seasons, with the Bombers’ 2019 campaign set to kick off against Carlton in the side’s first JLT Community Series clash on February 28 at Ikon Park.
