Football Bridges Cultures: Junior Matildas mentor diverse group of girls in Cairns community session
Danella Butrus and the Junior Matildas arrived in Cairns over the weekend and lead an empowering soccer session for a group of diverse youth.
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Danella Butrus and the Junior Matildas arrived in Cairns over the weekend and led an empowering football session for Cairns’ diverse youth.
Taking some time out of their intensive training schedule, the Under-17 Women’s National Team held a community coaching session for girls aged eight to thirteen from the local Cairns First Nations, refugee, and migrant communities.
Held at Endeavour Park, 18 girls from Cape York House for Girls and the CentaCare Far North Queensland resettlement program joined in the action, with several players being new arrivals in Australia from the DR Congo and Bhutan.
Twelve players from the Junior Matildas, including former refugee Butrus and captain Ruby Cuthbert, designed and ran the hour-long coaching session, with plenty of smiles and laughter on display.
Junior Matilda Butrus said being a part of the coaching session brought her joy as she was able to help girls who are in a similar position as she once was.
“My parents are both from Iraq and we all came here (to Australia) in 2013, it was a difficult to learn a second language and going to school trying to make friends, but here I am today,” she said.
“It was easy to connect with the (kids) because I was in their shoes once and (getting the chance) to explain (and teach) them was really (great) because it was what I needed when I was younger.
“I communicated (through action) and some of the kids didn’t quite know the language but I showed them what to do which I felt made it a lot easier to them.”
The rising attacker expressed hope that participants from the coaching session would use football as a mechanism to help fit in, similar to her experience when she migrated to Australia.
“(Football) is so important, I cannot stress it enough,” Butrus said.
“I am genuinely so happy for them coming out and experiencing new experiences because I know how much football has helped me finding a place to fit in.
“It just makes me feel genuinely happy to be able to participate in things like this, everyone had so much fun today and I felt like I was giving back.
“I would do it again 10 million times over.”
Brisbane Roar gun defender and Junior Matilda’s captain Ruby Cuthbert said it was an amazing experience.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us and we were speaking to some of the girls after, and they said it was the ‘best day of our lives,” Cuthbert said.
“Makes us proud to have the girls feel like they belong somewhere because some of them aren’t used to that, so it was really important that they could connect to us.
“Some of them couldn’t speak English yet, but if we can speak to them through the language of football, it’s just an amazing opportunity.”
“The opportunity warms my heart and proud of the position I’m in to be a role model to these girls.”
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Originally published as Football Bridges Cultures: Junior Matildas mentor diverse group of girls in Cairns community session
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