According to the coach of the Under 9 Juniors team at the Breakwater Eagles Soccer Club, Janakan Seemampillai, young Jemma won this year’s Coach’s Award - in a team full of boys!

“Jemma is eight years old and lives in Moolap, where she attends Moolap Primary School,” Janakan explained.

“She played soccer at school and wanted to play for a club and arrived at the Eagles. I’m glad she did, because she is such a great defender for the Eagles’ Under 9’s

Jemma’s favourite position is defender and her favourite soccer team are the Aussie Matildas. The best part of playing for the Breakwater Eagles, she says, is the fact that ‘it's awesome fun at training and playing in the matches on the Sunday.’

HANNAH SKOTNICA, meanwhile, is truly making her mark on the World Game. Featured on the front page of this week’s edition of the Geelong Advertiser Junior Sports section, the immensely talented eight year old from Bell Park is preparing for a footballing trip of a lifetime to Japan later this week.

A member of the Elcho Park Cardinals Under 11s girls’ team, young Hannah will attend an elite junior training camp as part of a Coerver International Training Tour in Osaka.

Her older brother, Nickolas, is a talented junior footballer in how own right. A goalkeeper who recently returned from his own dream football trip to the United Kingdom, Nickolas trained with the Chelsea, Tottenham and Fulham youth acadamies and is also set to travel to Spain in November as part of Australian U/13 Futsal Spain tour.

Before then, however, he is off to Coffs Harbour this weekend where he will represent the Victorian Country team at the FFA National U13s State Championships.