World Cup inspires young soccer player on the Far South Coast

The 13-year-old said she first joined the Eden Killer Whale Soccer Club when she was six, as a bit of a pastime. These days it had become a central part of her life.

"I love the energy soccer gives me, the adrenaline rush you get when you're on the field and I love my team," she said.

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Tori trained most nights of the week for both the Eden soccer club and the Far South Coast soccer team, as well as referee training which started a couple of months ago.

"Refereeing is heaps of fun and it teaches you a lot about the game as well, because you see all the details you miss when you're playing," she said.

Tori said in her primary school years she'd noticed a lack of female representation in soccer, starting out as one of the only female players in her team and seeing very few female games on television.

Tori said she'd been waiting several years for the World Cup to come to Australia and said she believed the Australian team, the Matildas, would do "really well".

"It's a really good team, they've got good structure, players and training," she said.

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Tori said seeing the women's World Cup games being hosted in Australia was inspiring for herself and other soccer players, who she thinks will benefit from observing their techniques.

"Seeing the Matildas work as a team rather than just relying on one specific player, might get more players to start working together," she said.

Tori said she'd loved seeing the Matildas live at the CommBank Matildas versus France game hosted at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium on July 14.

"Just sitting there and watching basically all of your role models playing the sport, is just so much better than watching it at home on the TV," she said.

Coming home after seeing the the Matildas live, Tori said she noticed herself training harder and interacting with her team more.

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"I normally train a few times a week, but when I came back I started putting in more effort and found myself working harder," she said.

Tori said the World Cup had strengthened her passion for soccer as she saw it as a sport she'd like to take on professionally.

"At first it was a bit of a hobby for me but now it's like a passion. If soccer was taken away from my life, I don't really know what I'd do," she said.

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