House debates

Monday, 17 September 2018

Statements by Members

Paterson Electorate: Westfield Junior Matildas

4:22 pm

Photo of Meryl SwansonMeryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

In Paterson, our schools have a great history of producing some great sporting stories. Local school Maitland Grossman High School, in East Maitland, is no different, with some exciting news in the last few weeks. Year 9 students Josie Morley and Teagan Douglas have been named in the Westfield Junior Matildas team and have made their way to Central Asia to play off against other teams in the next couple of weeks. Their goal is to qualify for the 2020 U-17 Women's World Cup. The girls' team will face competition from teams from Palestine, Indonesia, the Kyrgyz Republicand Chinese Taipei. The competition will be held in Kyrgyzstan, and the girls with their teams are already there.

Westfield Junior Matildas head coach Rae Dower has a huge job ahead, working to ensure that the team perform at their best while also having a great time in a unique country. I look forward to seeing what Josie, Teagan and the rest of the team are able to do whilst participating in this competition. I'm even more excited about where this path will take them into the future. To the Westfield Junior Matildas: go team, good luck and play hard, girls!