By Sheree Hoddinett
If there’s anywhere Nikki Verbakel feels right at home, it’s behind a lens nestled on the sidelines of an American Football game capturing all the action.
While many of you may know Nikki as the face behind Brooklyn’s Finest – American Hot Dog Company, there’s a little more to this bubbly entrepreneur than most realise. Nikki’s true passion lies in the heart of sports photography, in particular gridiron. It’s a code she’s become deeply ingrained within, courtesy of her husband who started playing in the 90s and only stopped a couple of years ago because it was time to retire.
“I didn't know anything about gridiron until I met my husband,” Nikki explains. “So, I didn't understand the game or anything and I used to go watch his games and I'd be bored to death.
“I was taking photos of him and then I met a photographer in Melbourne who’d seen me taking photos and we became friends. I spent time shadowing him and learning as much as I could over the next couple of years. Then it reached the point that I just started loving it and I was taking photos at most games and then I thought about joining the women’s league so I started playing as well.”
Although she faced opponents bigger than her and spent time getting “smashed” by other players, Nikki loved the thrill of the game, but the start of her IVF journey and a move to Queensland saw her retire from the field and once again return to the sidelines. With her passion for photographing games continuing to grow, Nikki reached out to a media company on Facebook in 2019 to see if she could get into some NFL games in the US to capture the action. While her initial plan to photograph a Cardinals and 49ers game fell through, it was college football to the rescue.
“I ended up at a high school game which was bigger than our finals games here,” Nikki said. “I was on the rooftop of Union City High School in New Jersey and that was an awesome experience. The coach there is still a friend of mine actually.”
Fast forward to 2022 and Nikki’s husband nominated her in an NFL run competition and she was named Australia’s Most Deserving Fan, earning her a trip to watch the Super Bowl, an experience of a lifetime.
“To actually win was unbelievable to start with, I don’t know what my husband put on my application, but it was enough to get me over the line,” she said. “While I was there I had the opportunity to speak to Charlotte Offord (GM NFL Australia and New Zealand) and I told her how much I’d love to be able to shoot more games and she said to leave it with her.
“Since then Charlotte has helped organise opportunities for me to photograph games in London when we were visiting my brother-in-law, then the San Francisco 49ers which is the team my husband and I follow after London, but I got Covid and then finally last year I went to San Francisco and that was the best day of my life!
“They came and found me and the head photographer invited me to come back and they’ll show me how they do things. The whole experience was so surreal, but awesome, I thought ‘this is the NFL and I’m here’ and it couldn’t have gone any better.”
Nikki has been volunteering as a photographer in the Victorian and Queensland leagues for the past 13 years, paying for all of her own equipment and travel costs. One of her biggest goals would be to score a Canon sponsorship. Nikki’s face lights up as she speaks about her experiences so far, highlighting the fact she can’t wait to go back overseas and do it all again. As much as she would love to make a full-time job of it, for now it remains a hobby, albeit an expensive one.
“Yes the ultimate dream would be to do photography full time, but as the way these things go, I can’t afford to leave my retail job and I have my ‘award winning’ food truck on Bribie on the weekends,” she said.
“Even though it's been 13 years since I started playing and taking photos and everything, I feel like now it's just beginning.
“Now that the NFL's coming to Melbourne, this season I’m going to try to promote the sport even more. A lot of people don't know there are leagues here and it's a really good community. All the clubs feel like a big family and I say to anyone, if they don't know what sport to choose, try gridiron. They have peewee leagues, under 12’s, under 14’s, men’s, women’s and flag football is now an Olympic sport, so I want to get it out there as much as I can.”
Nikki’s journey has earnt her a bit of fame along the way. She recently appeared on a 7News story and also a six-page spread in Australian Photography Magazine. With a future goal to be a photographer for a professional sporting team, the future sure looks bright for this snapping star.
You can follow Nikki on Facebook via Touchdown Photography or Brooklyn’s Finest – American Hot Dog Company.
Comentarios