Hailing from the North Coast, Alice Webster is enjoying every minute of the Future Wander Women Program at the Wanderers Centre of Football.
The free 20-week program which commenced in early May saw over 188 young females take part in a two-week trial before a 34-player squad was finalised.
After making the 34-player squad, Webster and her family have been traveling over seven hours every Wednesday from the North Coast to Western Sydney making the ultimate sacrifice to continue Alice’s football development.
“Every Wednesday morning we leave at around 8:30am and we start our journey down south to Western Sydney,” explained Webster.
“We arrive in Sydney at around 4:00pm and then we come to training. After training, we stay in Sydney and then the journey back home starts on Thursday morning.”
Webster has also managed to secure an arrangement with her school who were supportive and understanding of her following her dreams.
“I’ve joined this program which allows me to miss school and the classes that I miss, I have to catch up on whenever I have free time,” said Webster.
“I am keeping up with my school work.”
The program which is looked over by Wanderers Academy Technical Director Ian Crook, head coach Linda Khamis and assistant coach Libby Copus-Brown has been designed to provide an opportunity for young females to be mentored and developed as the next stars of Western Sydney.
“It has been a really good experience for me to come to see how the metropolitan girls are and how they train,” said Webster.
“I’ve been learning and adding skills onto my first touches, scanning and body movement, so that’s been really good and it’s already improved my game.”
Alice’s mum, Susanne, spoke highly of the program and its ability to provide football opportunities no matter what region you are from.
“My husband heard of the Future Wander Women Program on ABC Radio Sydney and we decided we would send off an application just to see where it would lead us,” said Susanne Webster.
“We had never experienced a trial process like this before so we were both a bit nervous.
“Living in a regional area, we were very proud that she was able to be picked out of such a large trial.”
The players have presented their jerseys in a special presentation and BBQ night hosted by Wanderers Foundations donors ICC Development Group, ABC Radio Sydney, Intermain, and Western Sydney University who have all helped the program come to life.
“It was very exciting, it was really nice having all the sponsors there so it made it very special for the girls and learning about how they have helped create an unbelievable program.”
“I’d like to personally thank the sponsors and the club as this is a great starting point for a lot of these girls.”
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