1.

What club did you first play for? What other clubs/federations in NZ have you played for?

My first club I played for was Burwood AFC on the East side of Christchurch - I played in a team as the only girl until I was 12 years old. I also played for Avon United FC and Coastal Spirit both in Christchurch. I have only ever played for Canterbury! Red and Black runs in my veins.

2.

How does it feel knowing you are representing not only your Nation on the worlds stage, but also your local region & club?

Its pretty special, I’m a very proud Cantabrian and I take a lot of pride in coming from the South Island. I bleed red and black, I always have and always will. I come from a family who have very strong ties to Canterbury, my nana was an avid Canterbury Rugby supporter and in her later years also a Canterbury Pride Football supporter, my Dad is the same so it runs true in my family and I could never imagine myself playing for another region.In the past not many have come out from Canterbury, let alone the South Island so to end up making the Ferns squad, I feel very honoured, privileged and special to be one of the very few to be able to do so.

3.            

What are you earliest / best memories of playing local club football? 

I think for me some of my fondest memories date way back to when I played football with Burwood AFC. I was the only girl for many years but I never let that stop me, many of the boys I would play against would just automatically make assumptions about me because I was ‘just a girl’ but I showed them out on the right wing with my pace, agility and never ending amount of energy, I used to put away goals for fun! 

4.            

Do you still keep in touch with your childhood coaches / team mates? What do they make of your journey as a player? 

I have no contact with those at Burwood AFC however I am still in contact with Noran Abaza, she coached me through 12-15 ish years at Avon United FC, she also coached me at U12 Canterbury's and that’s how I actually made the switch from playing with boys to my first all girls team. They were some of my favourite years of football also, we one our age group every year, but in saying that we had pretty much the entire Canterbury team!

I also still have contact with Alana Gunn, she coached me at Coastal Spirit as well as both Tim Bush and Mike DeBono, they were also two influential coaches in my career who worked with me in the very important development years of 14–18 at regional level through Mainland Football  I know all of the above coaches are extremely proud of me and what I have achieved, as a player I am extremely thankful for every single one of them and the part they played in my career to date. 

In terms of teammates I would have to say that I made some of my closest friends through playing Football. I am still friends with many of the girls I played u12 and u14 Canterburies with right through to u17, u20 and now senior Ferns. Football has allowed me to make some truly lifelong friends and I am extremely thankful for that. Shout out to Jazzy Pereira, she’s my best mate and I meet her for the first time at NZU17s. She’s from Auckland and myself obviously from Christchurch so without football we wouldn’t have ever met each other! That would have been a tragedy! Thankful for her and her endless support always

5.

Who has been your biggest inspiration on your Journey and why? 

This question always gets asked a lot and if im honest I think its one of the toughest ones, throughout the years it always changed. I always looked up to the Ferns as a young girl. My family however are probably my biggest inspiration, since I was a little girl, I’ve admired my Granmas strength, and my Mum is my rock. My sister is my best friend, and my Dads is my silent supporter from as long as I can remember, he never says much but I've always felt the words he wanted to say. They were all on every sideline since as far back as I can remember. These days I play for them, but I also play for myself, I play for that little girl who had a dream that she knew one day she could achieve when she worked as hard as she could. I play for her and I play for the many young girls nation-wide in our country who like ‘young mouse' have that dream also, and I hope that I can be somebody now that they can/would look up too. I want to inspire as many girls as I can to play football and be role models for them like those before me were for myself. 

Article added: Friday 24 May 2019