Proud honour awaits Hills United star Jamie Clarke
Aspiring Matilda and Hills United FC Under 14’s Girls star Jamie Clarke is preparing for a different match all together after the little superstar was nominated and will represent the Hills Shire where she will be speaking at the NSW Children’s Parliament on the 29th of October.
An avid football fan as well as a future female advocate for the sport, Clarke will be speaking about something very close to her heart with the topic of Australia hosting the 2022 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the lack of sporting facilities within the Hills Shire area.
“I’m extremely excited because I get to talk to influential people about what is important to me and my friends who live in The Hills Shire area.
“I think we need to expand facilities that would help the next wave of girls keen to participate in all sports.
“There are girls in the area who can play really good football and who simply just want to play the sport rain, hail or shine.
“Access to football fields all year round is very important. At times, my training sessions and games have been cancelled due to rain and our team has struggled to find a safe location to kick a ball. More artificial fields would fix this problem, without good facilities, we cannot further develop our skills,” Clarke stated to Football NSW.
Showing maturity well beyond her fourteen years and having kicked off her love affair with the world game at the age of 8, the young Hills United FC star has been playing representative football in the Hills area for the past three years now.
She’s already signaled out her two favourite Matildas stars in Tameka Yallop and Ellie Carpenter as she hopes she can one day emulate her idols.
“I play the same position as Ellie Carpenter so I can learn a lot from her.
“I like Tameka Yallop because she is an attacking midfielder who is also very exciting to watch.
“My dream is to one day play for the Matildas.”
Proud mum Amanda was over the moon when she received the news that her daughter was selected to represent the electorate of Castle Hill at the Children’s Parliament in October.
“I am proud that Jaime has strong opinions about things that are important to her. It is a great opportunity that she gets to express her concerns directly to our politicians.
“As a parent, and particularly as a mum, we want our kids to influence others for the better and to use their voices to help, protect, and inspire others.
“Her speech to Parliament is about the need for more sporting fields, especially in areas of population growth and the advantages of sporting fields with artificial turf.
“Her message is that being able to train, regardless of the weather conditions, is important for young girls in the area who aspire to be a part of any future FIFA Women’s World Cups with the Matildas.”
It was via a school project that launched this exciting opportunity for Jamie that propelled her to the heights of being part of the NSW Parliament setup later next month.
“It actually started as a school project when learning about levels of government,” said Amanda.
“I think Jaime became aware of lots more people moving into the Hills area and the need to more sporting facilities to support the extra people.
“At the same time, Bernie Mullane was being fitted with artificial turf and Jaime thought Government should build more fields like this.
“Over the last two years Jaime has participated in a number of consultations and events organised by the NSW Government through the Office of Advocate for Children and Young people, including surveys and a one day interview selection process for inclusion as a member on their youth committee. Her responses and participation led her to being nominated for this opportunity to share her voice and bring forward her views on the topic that is important to her at the Children’s Week Parliament.”
Football NSW would like to wish Jamie all the best in representing our wonderful sport next month, one thing’s for sure, this won’t be the last time we see or hear the name of Jamie Clarke, a future Matilda and Politician in our midst perhaps!
