By PETER DOUGLAS
JUNIOR players from the Under 16s Yarra Valley Soccer Club have impressed state talent scouts.
So much so, six members of the Millgrove-based club have been selected to represent Victoria in the National Championships in Sydney over the coming school holidays.
The players won their way into the state squad after an exhaustive trial-selection process, with six players coming from just three different teams.
The small club is the only team in the competition that is playing with girls in their team, who are more than holding their own.
This includes Evie Simpson, Clarity Houniet and Gabrielle Simpson, who won state selection.
Club member, Craig Holloway, said they deserve the accolades.
“They more than hold their own in the ball-skills department and have really added a unique dimension to how we play,” he said.
“With the Australian women’s soccer team doing so well again at the World Cup recently, it is exciting to think these girls may be on the way to that experience.
“I believe the girls have personally benefited through playing against more physical opponents in all-boy teams, which I think is proven in their ultimate selection for the state squad.”
Mr Holloway said the girls had been a significant part of the team for some time.
“If you spoke to the coach, most of these girls have been a special part of the team for some four to five years,” he said.
“Where ordinarily they would have been in a separate girls or women’s side in this Under 16s age group, our club is so small they were incorporated again into the make-up of our team, so they would get a kick.”
Under 13s team coach Woody Clark said their success had been well received in the club.
“For such a small club, this is a very strong representation,” he said.
