By JOLENE OGLE
AT JUST 18 years old, Larissa Crummer of Tewantin already has an impressive resume both on and off the soccer pitch.
The soccer player is currently representing Australia as part of the Young Matilda squad in the pre-qualifying round of the AFC Under 19 Women’s Championships in Vietnam.
Larissa said she started playing soccer when she was five and had never stopped, scoring her first major contract playing for Sydney in the W-League when she was just 16 years old.
Larissa’s mum, Vicki, said it was tough sending her young daughter to play in Sydney.
“It was really hard. She stayed with a family we didn’t know,” she said.
“We drove her down there and to leave her with someone we didn’t know was horrible … but it was worse for me than her.”
For Larissa, it was the start of a very promising career in the football league.
Larissa now plays for the Young Matildas and W-League, and she hopes to be selected for the Matildas team to represent Australia.
But off the soccer pitch, Larissa likes to get her hands dirty as an apprentice plumber alongside her dad, Les.
“I had been working for him just every now and then. Then Mum brought up the idea about going to TAFE and actually doing it,” she said.
The apprenticeship works in with Larissa’s training schedule that sees her travel to Brisbane every afternoon to train, but she said she would have to put her study on hold if she was selected for the Matildas team.
Larissa said it would be a while to wait before the selection of the Matildas, but she’s working hard to be ready for selection.
