Athletes Dyson Heppell, Erin Phillips and Amy Parmenter describe their experiences with disordered eating

Dyson Heppell thought his behavior was completely normal.

It was 2012 and the Essendon player was in the second year of his AFL career after an impressive debut in which he won the league’s Rising Star award; He was the first player in Bombers history to achieve this.

Media chatter about the “second year blues” combined with Heppell’s desire to continue improving has left him hyper-focused on the one thing he can meticulously control: his diet.

The 19-year-old actress began overtraining while severely restricting her calories. He’d go to a concert or a football game, but he’d pack his own lunch in a lunchbox or make sure he’d eaten before attending a family dinner.

Once, after going out for a few beers with teammates, Heppell recalls “throwing a punch.” [out] To try burning calories, walk a few miles up and down the Alexander Mountain Trail.

“Those things slowly started coming to me, but I didn’t even question it at the time,” Heppell admits. “And now I look back and go, that’s weird behavior.”

Speaking at the Butterfly Foundation Trophies luncheon on Wednesday alongside former basketball and AFLW champion Erin Phillips and Melbourne Mavericks netballer Amy Parmenter, Heppell opened up about her experience with disordered eating as an elite athlete.

It’s an admission Heppell recently made on television. I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here He talked about the pressure of reaching pre-season weight targets.

“You set a goal for yourself, and if you come back from the offseason to the preseason and you don’t meet that goal, you’re put in a group that would have to do extra cross-training — or you’d do some type of workout to burn some fat,” Heppell said on the reality show.

“And the kids hailed this group as the ‘fat club.’ It was a pretty vicious group, to be honest.”

Eventually Heppell said his then partner (now wife) Kate, who was studying nutrition, bravely spoke to Essendon staff and made them aware of his behaviour.

Heppell then sat down with the player development manager, psychologist and club doctors to have an extensive discussion “about the path I was taking”.

Heppell told this imprint that his previously toxic relationship with food has now become much healthier and more balanced.

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She wants to challenge the “masculine aura of not talking about your feelings” and the shame that comes with eating disorders.

“It’s so important to have a really close, close-knit support network around you to help… and also to have key role models who will take that responsibility for being vulnerable and share their stories and make others feel comfortable speaking out and getting help,” she said.

‘He needs to lose weight’: How coaches can influence players’ body image

Like many women, netballer Amy Parmenter was disgusted when she heard footage had gone viral in NSW last week of an Australian rules official making derogatory comments about female players’ bodies.

The comment was captured in a video of the Collingullie Wagga Demons women’s team playing; where the official was heard referring to women as “breeders” and saying that a female player should lose weight.

“There’s a real problem in our society in general; the body shape of women… they’re our breeders, man… because of the food they eat, even young girls are shaped all wrong,” the official said.

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“You think back to when we were growing up… the body shapes of girls… you hardly ever saw a fat girl. It was a rarity.”

Collingullie Wagga Demons released a statement confirming that the official had “resigned from all club duties with immediate effect” and said the behavior was unacceptable.

A report by Sport Integrity Australia last year found that body shaming was the most common behavior witnessed and experienced by athletes in sport.

Parmenter, who has previously spoken about her experiences with eating disorders in netball, said coaches and club officials needed to be educated about harmful language.

“Maybe that lady [Wagga Demons club official] “I was talking about not having an eating disorder at the time, but she will never forget those comments and that impact on her will be with her forever, I can assure you.” Parmenter said.

The Australian Diamonds and Melbourne Mavericks player said sports clubs needed to protect players and talk about performance and welfare.

“We make comments about people’s bodies so easily in club environments that you don’t think twice about it. But I actually never, ever comment on someone’s body anymore. It’s definitely not my thing.”

AFLW and basketball legend Erin Phillips acknowledges the powerful impact coaches can have on players’ mental health.

“Some of the most incredible athletes look very different from each other and are still the best at what they do, and performance won’t depend on how you look; it will depend on how you perform,” he told this imprint.

Phillips, who recently became the Gold Coast’s general manager of women’s football, spoke candidly about her journey with disordered eating, describing her relationship with her body in the early years of her playing career as “crude, unrealistic and unsustainable”.

The three-time premiership player admits he still has “scars” from that period in his life, but he knows speaking vulnerably about disordered eating will help more people.

Phillips, who has four children, two girls and two boys, with his wife Tracy, wants to send a message of strength and self-compassion.

She wants her children to look in the mirror and feel strong, healthy and kind.

“If or when they [her kids] “They decide to do sports, the important thing is not what they look like, but how they feel while having fun,” he said.

“That’s all they have to think about when they play.”

Butterfly National Helpline 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) www.butterfly.org.au

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