TALENTED footballer and Beerwah High student Amali Kinsella has won her first State Championship, as she gears up to represent Australia as a senior player for the first time.
Amali has had a busy year, preparing to finish her year 12 studies as well as making football nationals for the sixth time, and training four days a week with a game on the weekend.
Last year she was picked to participate in the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) for football, to receive a high level of training and pathways leading to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
“I’ve been picked into QAS again this year, but I’m playing in the women’s division this time, so the NPL women’s team, it has been going really well,” Kinsella said.
“I’ve been starting most weeks and we’ve won team of the week a few times… QAS has so many opportunities, we have people watching us all the time, so it’s really good to be in that environment.”
Amali has played representatively since she was 11-years-old, however the Sunshine Coast team won the State Championships for the first time since she started, against Mid-East.
“We played through to penalties and after a lot of back and forth we finally managed to get more goals than the opposition, and won the competition which was really exciting for us,” she said.
Kinsella is preparing to play nationally in September this year, and it will be the first time she’s played in a senior aged team.
“I made the Queensland team to play in the Canberra nationals in September, but I’ve made nationals playing as an attacker and defender over the years which is a great feeling,” she said.
“I’ll be playing under 19s at nationals, it’s pretty crazy especially the girls I’ve been playing with, we all grew up together… it feels good and it’s getting real now.
“We will get bigger and better opportunities once we have finished school, it just makes you want to keep working hard.”
Kinsella’s goal remains the same from the last time GC&M News spoke to her last year, which is to compete at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.