Footballer Ellie Carpenter scores NewsLocal’s Junior Sports Star medal
FOOTBALLER Ellie Carpenter made her debut for the Matildas at just 15. Now she has been awarded NewsLocal’s Junior Sports Star medal for her efforts.
Parramatta
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- Ellie Carpenter makes debut for Matildas at just 15
- Rio 2016: Ellie Carpenter becomes Australia’s youngest Olympian
SHE’S only 16 but footballer Ellie Carpenter has already proven age is no barrier in reaching the top of her game.
She became the first millennial athlete — born in the 2000s — to be selected in any national team, male or female, when she debuted for the Matildas in an Olympic qualifying game against Vietnam last year.
The Western Sydney Wanderers defender went on to make headlines as the youngest female footballer ever to compete at an Olympic Games when she took the field for Australia in Rio de Janeiro.
Now Carpenter has taken out the top honour at the NewsLocal Junior Sports Star awards, winning the overall medal for outstanding performance in 2016. The awards, sponsored by Rebel, are open to rising sporting stars aged from 10 to 16 and were presented at a gala dinner held at Bicentennial Park’s Waterview conference centre on Wednesday night.
Carpenter joins an illustrious list of past winners, many of whom have gone on to become household names in their chosen fields. They include dual Olympic kayak medallist Jessica Fox and former world champion discus thrower Dani Samuels.
The young footballer from Pemulwuy accepted the award by video, as she was en route with the Matildas to Portugal to take on Sweden, The Netherlands and China in an international tournament — the team’s first outing since the Olympics when they were eliminated in a heartbreaking penalty shootout by hosts Brazil.
“I feel very honoured to receive the NewsLocal Junior Sports Star award as there were so many fantastic nominees this year,” she said.
“It’s also great to be in the company of past winners such as Jess Fox and (Australian football and cricket representaive) Ellyse Perry.”
“I have very specific goals I want to achieve in women’s football and it is such a huge focus in my life. I’m focused on Europe now and I want to try and raise the bar in my own game and hopefully become a more complete player.”
Originally from Cowra, Carpenter was talent-spotted at a football academy in Canberra. For several years, twice a week, she and her brother made a four hour round trip, driven by their parents, for specialist coaching in the national capital. They did their homework in the car on the way and did not get home until after 11pm.
“My family has played a huge part in my success,” she said. “There is so much that goes on behind the scenes to enable me to have these opportunities. It is truly a team effort.”
Carpenter thrived and was the only girl selected for an academy tour of Japan.
“I always played against the boys growing up in the country and they learned fairly quickly they didn’t have to go easy on me because I was a girl,” she said.
Carpenter eventually moved to Sydney to continue her development at Westfield Sports High from where she was signed by the Wanderers. She made her debut at 15 and played every minute of the 2015 W-League season.
“I think a fair amount of people underestimated me because of how young I am, but you’ve just got to prove them wrong.”
Now in their 12th year, the Junior Sports Star awards turn the spotlight on outstanding young athletes with nominees publicised each week in NewsLocal’s community newspapers in Sydney and the Central Coast.
More than 600 athletes and their families attended last night’s dinner along with Renee Forth from the GWS Giants AFLW team, Sydney Kings basketball captain Kevin Lisch and 400m runner Jessica Thornton, another Rio Olympian, who won the Junior Sports Star medal in 2015.
In other categories at the awards, the Team Spirit prize went to the Hills Junior Baseball team which competed at the Little League World Series in the US and the Service to Sport award was presented to Norman Hill who has been a member of the Coogee Surf Life Saving club for 77 years. Supporting sponsors of the awards were SportsTG and Simonds Homes.
FULL LIST OF AWARD WINNERS
JUNIOR SPORTS STAR
— Timothy Hodge, Swimming (Blacktown Advocate)
— William Fine Paiaaua Kei, Rugby League (Canterbury-Bankstown Express)
— Macy Jane Callaghan, Surfing (Central Coast Express Advocate)
— Elena Stojcevski, Wrestling Australia (Fairfield Advance)
— Kira Ward, Gymnastics (Hills Shire Times)
— Hayley Johnston, Swimming (Hornsby Advocate)
— Lauren Rebecca Clark, Athletics (Hornsby Advocate)
— Sam Fricker, Diving (Inner West Courier)
— Isobelle Padilla, Kickboxing (Liverpool Leader)
— Courtney Hannah Schonell, Hockey (Macarthur Chronicle)
— Remy Siemsen, Football (Soccer) (Manly Daily)
— Pasha Bevan, Rowing (Mosman Daily)
— Lindsay Smith, Rugby League (Mt Druitt Standard)
— Joshua Collett, Swimming (North Shore Times)
— Joel Foster, Cricket (Northern District Times)
— Ellie Carpenter, Football (Soccer) (Parramatta Advertiser)
— Ethan Mcguinness, Gymnastics (Penrith Press)
— Joshua Brodie, Cycling (Rouse Hill Times)
— Liam Lucas, Surfing (Southern Courier)
— Hamish Maxwell Donkin, Surf Life Saving (Wentworth Courier)
YOUNG SPORTING SPIRIT
— Patrick Gleeson, Athletics (Blacktown Advocate)
— Brayden Paranihi-Patolo, Basketball (Canterbury-Bankstown Express)
— Jack Birt, Kickboxing (Central Coast Express Advocate)
— Samuel Davino, Karate (Fairfield Advance)
— Olivia Lawne, Rugby League (Hills Shire Times)
— Oliver Rackley, Cricket (Inner West Courier)
— Jade Rose Errington, Cricket (Liverpool Leader)
— Jaide Gayle-Weiling, Skate (Macarthur Chronicle)
— Joshua Kerr, Swimming (Manly Daily)
— Gabby Mastroianni, Triathlon (Mosman Daily)
— Brock Eyre-Nixon, Baseball (Mt Druitt Standard)
— Shivani Mehta, Cricket (North Shore Times)
— Nicola Schubert, Water Polo (Northern District Times)
— Jonathan Accetta, Football (Soccer) (Parramatta Advertiser)
— Jackson Bury, Softball (Penrith Press)
— Nicholas Suman, Football (Soccer) (Rouse Hill Times)
— Xavier Slezak, AFL (Southern Courier)
— Clementine Mobbs, Snowboarding (Wentworth Courier)
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