By Isaac Nowroozi
Fifteen-year-old Aoife Colvill is not your average teenage girl. Since the age of five, Colvill has had one goal in mind: becoming a professional footballer. Colvill and her father moved from Cairns, Queensland, to Canberra in order to give her the best chance possible of achieving her goal. The rest of her family are also on their way.
They had the choice of moving to either Brisbane or Canberra, but after discussions decided that Canberra was the way to go, both for personal and professional reasons.
“Brisbane is just too busy, Canberra is a nice step up from Cairns,” said Colvill. “Plus, Canberra has a much better development program for women’s footballers”.
It’s a move that is already proving to pay dividends. Colvill officially made the move to Canberra last Thursday, and immediately started training with Belconnen United FC that evening. Later that week, Colvill would be playing the full 90 minutes for the Belconnen United under 20’s in their opening win over Tuggeranong United.
Her day would not end there. First-grade coach Antoni Jagarinec was impressed by Colvill, and put her on the bench for his sides opening game.
Colvill was substituted on with 15 minutes to go, and picked up her first Women’s Premier League goal. Colvill didn’t just score in the Women’s Premier League, she did it on debut at the age of 15.
Head coach of Canberra United Rae Dower has invited Colvill to train with the W-League side, and has offered her a position with United under-17 squad next season should she impress in 2016 with Belconnen United.
So far it’s looking good for Colvill, who has already proven she can hang with bigger, older and more experienced players.
All this may not have been possible, were it not for the belief that Colvill’s parents had in her. It’s something that Colvill herself finds overwhelming.
“My dad would do anything to help me go forward towards my dreams” she Colvill. “It’s amazing that they would do that for me (move to Canberra), it makes me feel really special. It just goes to show how much faith my dad has in me”
Keep an eye out for Colvill and her team-mates throughout the year in the ACT Women’s Premier League. Full match previews and reviews will appear on the Capital Football website with weekend goal updates LIVE, as they happen, where available on matchdays.
Photograph: Sal Giovinazzo