WA soccer girls

back from ACT

Armadale Examiner, Perth

13 Sep 2012, by James Dessent

 

Jamie-Lee Gale was

part of the Football

West under 18 girls

squad that recently

returned from a national

competition in

Canberra winless but

with their pride firmly

intact.

According to Gale the

decision to send a team

from Western Australia

to the national training

centre (NTC) challenge

at the Australian

Institute of Sport was

made late, leaving the

squad little time to gel.

“We’d never played

together before and

considering we were

thrown together at the

very last minute, we

really did quite well,”

she said.

“We may not have

won any games but we

came close on a couple

and got some great

experience playing

against quality players

from around the country,

which is what it’s

all about.”

Head coach Gary

Church was also happy

with the team’s performance.

“The NTC challenge

gave our girls a

memorable experience

as well as an idea of

the benchmark if they

were to pursue football

careers playing against

the best girls in Australia

and reaching the

Matildas,” he said.

“Tom Sermanni, the

Matildas’ head coach

commented on how

much the WA side had

improved throughout

the week as well as

identifying one of our

youngest players.”

Gale said it was inspiring

to see the professionalism

that some

of the girls from the

other states possessed.

“The girls from New

South Wales were

amazing, I mean they

beat us eight goals to

nil,” she said.

“But they were a

team that had trained

together for a long time

in the lead up and so

they new each other’s

games inside out and

that connection within

the team is what we are

aiming to have.”

Gale studies exercise

physiology at Murdoch

University and plays

fot the Beckenham

Angels at a women’s

premier league level.

“I think I’ve always

been a sporty person

and I particularly like

football as a hobby

because it takes your

mind off other things,”

she said.