Local football juniors Chelsea Hackenberg and Ava Ryan recently celebrated victory in the Under-12s Female Cup Division at the Kanga Cup in Canberra.
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The two 12-year-olds were competing for the Football Mid North Coast representative side and excelled in their respective positions.
Chelsea plays on the wing and is a dynamic player. She is skilful on the ball at pace and often outruns and outplays defenders with her menacing attack. She contributed to multiple goals at the tournament.
Ava is a hardworking central midfielder. She has fantastic vision in the game, controls the centre of the field and creates opportunities for the forwards. Ava is the steady hand of the team, she accrued five goals in total during the tournament and took the penalty shots for the team with success on every occasion.
The Under-12s side started the largest youth football tournament in the Southern Hempisphere on the backfoot as they suffered a 3-0 defeat against Lindfield FC, however, the side clicked into gear after the loss and was dominant for the remainder of the tournament.
The side went on to win all of their remaining games, including a 1-0 victory over Lindfield in the grand final.
Chelsea and Ava’s side also didn’t concede another goal after their opening game.
The week long carnival attracted more than 5500 talented juniors.
Players are selected into the representative team from Forster through to South West Rocks and Chelsea and Ava were the only two Macleay girls to make the squad this year.
The girls have committed to the long haul, driving to Taree and Port Macquarie for training weekly.
Both Girls are now vying for a spot in the condensed FMNC’s Telstra State Titles Team, to be played in Coffs Harbour in the September School holidays.
Chelsea and Ava also share a love for cricket and have been accepted into the North Coast Academy of Cricket under 15’s side and hope to play Country Championships this summer.
Chelsea is a Kempsey Saints junior while Ava plays for South West Rocks.
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