By Brendan Rees
Young women have kicked goals, in more ways than one, during an indoor soccer tournament in Cranbourne last month.
The City of Casey held the Golden Girls Soccer Tournament with 45 participants from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds descending on Casey Stadium on Tuesday, 16 January.
Casey active communities manager James Rouse said the tournament, which was in its third year, was created in response to a desire from young women in multicultural communities to play competition soccer.
“The day was a great success with the teams showing great skill, determination and support for each other,” he said.
One participant, 16 year-old Maryam Anvari, came to Australia from Afghanistan in 2014 and hopes to be a professional soccer player one day.
She says soccer has helped her make friends, boost her confidence and develop her English skills.
“When I play soccer, I don’t think about school work or homework and just enjoy the game. It is very relaxing for me,” she said.
“I started playing soccer with some friends at a park when I was in language school in 2015.”
Maryam has gone on to score a sport scholarship, has tried out for the WNPL and is a member of Under 19 South Melbourne club where she won top scorer of the league.
Earlier last month, Maryam and her team won the annual Afghan Tournament in Brisbane where she also received the best player award.
The winners of this year’s event was ‘The Champions’ with runners up going to Comets United.
The event is supported by South East Community Links, The Centre for Multicultural Youth, Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre, Deakin University, YMCA and Win4Women.
