Weekly Times | BECKY Webster’s football horizons have rapidly expanded in the past 12 months.
Webster has played football since Auskick age and although some old doors have closed for the 14-year-old, other opportunities have grown exponentially.
Webster will be the youngest player representing Victoria Country at the Youth Girls National Championships in Mandurah, Western Australia, beginning on Sunday.
“It’s amazing. I’d never played with girls until last year, which was the first time and that was near the end of the year,” Webster said.
“So to be able to go from not playing with girls at all to jumping to this is quite incredible.”
Girls’ football in Victoria’s North East has expanded with the introduction this year of a domestic competition, the AFL North East Border Youth Girls League, as well as the opportunity to join a development academy.
Last year Webster played with her local junior club Benalla Giants, but because of her age was not eligible this year.
Her former Giants coach, Lloyd Johnson, put her on to AFL North East Border football development manager Grant Saunders and soon she was trialling for the new Murray Bushrangers-Bendigo Pioneers youth girls academy.
She was selected for the academy in October, then earlier this month was named in the Victoria Country side for the championships.
The side will play against Western Australia, Victoria Metro and Queensland. The Northern Territory-Tasmania side, NSW-ACT, South Australia and an indigenous girls side, the Woomeras, are in the other division.
Webster said she wanted to take her football “as far as it can go”, including playing in the Victorian Women’s Football League when she was old enough.
Fourteen VWFL players were selected in the AFL women’s draft last week.
“When I’m old enough hopefully in the future there will be an AFL level for girls,” she said.
