Laura Knipe has kept her touch on the ball since she could and now at 15, she's got one goal in mind.
"The ultimate goal is the Matildas, I'm trying my hardest to get there," the emerging Newcastle Jets midfielder said.
And she's well on her way there after coming back from her first Junior Matildas camp in November for the best under-17 players in the country, at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
The Merewether High School student was scouted from her performance in the Northern NSW Football nationals under 14's squad in Wollongong in October.
"I went to the nationals tournament wanting to be identified knowing that I had a chance of being selected," she said.
Within three weeks she got the call up as part of the 24-player squad and says the camp experience allowed her to grow as a player.
"It was a good window of opportunity to find out how the Matildas play and see where I was comparatively against other girls, because I was better than some and worse than some," she said.
"We played a different formation to what I'm used to so instead of playing two attacking midfielders, they only played one but obviously that's the point - learning different methodologies."
"I really enjoyed learning a different style of play."
Knipe said she loves her position in the world game because it gives her the opportunity to succeed and create chances with the ball.
"You can impact the game, you can control it, you can influence it and you're a very big part of the game in the centre field because you're affecting your defence as well as your attack," she said.
Heading into Christmas she's training five mornings a week, hitting the gym twice per week and keeping her touch on the ball in the hopes to secure another invite to the Junior Matildas camp in January.
"The next step is to be identified and selected for another camp which will then lead hopefully to selection in the Asian Cup squad for April 24," she said.
"I've been thinking about this for at least four years becoming more serious in football and it would mean so much."
Off the back of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Knipe said there has never been a better time to rise through the ranks.
"It's been a massive year for women's football and it's so wonderful that this is the right time and opportunity for me," she said,
Knipe was also recently in Spain where she did two weeks training under Barcelona FC coaches and plans to head back for some more experience.
"It was really interesting seeing all the different methodologies that different clubs employ for their players and it was good learning something other than Australian football," she said.
"It was a really valuable experience."
Emerging Jets team mates Caoimhe Bray, Jade O'Brien and Sian Wilde also joined Knipe at the November camp.
Head Coach Rae Dower said the camp was an opportunity for continued talent identification across the age group nationally.
"The depth has never been this great across the women's game and the recent success of the CommBank Matildas at the FIFA Women's World Cup has ignited the desire and the passion even more of the playing group and staff," she said.
"As we head into the Christmas, New Year break, everyone can take some time to reflect and recharge as we lead into the under 17 Asian Cup," Dower said.
The AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup Indonesia will run from April 7 to 20, 2024 with the top three nations qualifying for the FIFA under 17 Women's World Cup Dominican Republic 2023.
