Old Parks soccer player gets selected for SA U17 team
BORDEAUX – Local soccer player will represent South Africa at the 2018 Soccer World Cup qualifiers.
She went from playing soccer with boys to playing with women much older than her, and back again. Now Sarah Walker will have her chance to represent South Africa.
The 15-year-old Bordeaux resident has been selected to play at right back for South Africa’s U17 girls’ team in the 2018 Fifa U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers, which start against Botswana on 1 December.
The selection is the first step towards Walker realising her dream of playing for South Africa’s senior women’s team, Banyana Banyana.
“If the chance arises I also want to go to the United States of America to play at a university, like [Banyana captain] Janine van Wyk,” she said.
Walker currently plays in Old Parks Soccer Club’s U15 boys’ team with her twin brother, Michael.
“When I play with boys, I have to get more aggressive and stronger,” she said. “There is extra pressure to play well but I can hold my own. Sometimes a huge boy will knock me down but I just get experience from that.”
Walker joked that she would still be playing soccer into her 90s because “you don’t have to know people or speak the same language as them to play together and have fun”.
She described herself as more of a reader of the game and clever passer of the ball than someone who just defended well.
“I guess my role models in soccer would be former Chelsea legend Frank Lampard and the whole of the South African women’s team.”
She identified Van Wyk, Amanda Dlamini and Linda Motlhalo as three specific national players who have inspired her to pursue greatness.
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