By JARROD POTTER
TAY Clayton’s sport’s journey hit a new high as she was part of a national championship winning football team.
Clayton, 15, from Berwick, was part of the rampaging School Sport Victoria under-16 football team that blitzed the School Sport Australia national championships in Sydney last week.
The Victorians only gave up 26 points across the entire five-game round-robin competition at the championships – storming away comfortably to claim the national championship.
The wily midfielder/wing was one of the dominant targets up front as she booted 11 goals for the carnival.
Her only regret was with a sense of great humility, as she wished the competition was more even.
“It was really good – it was good to win every game, but it would have been better if there were closer games and better competition,” Clayton said.
“We only got 26 points kicked against us for the entire carnival.
“We developed a lot as a team and our skills together developed a lot and we became a team by the time we got there so it was a really good week.”
It was a big relief for her to get through this carnival unscathed after her start to the season was derailed by a concussion she received at the Youth Girls National Championships.
It forced Clayton to sit out the majority of the week, but she got back into the thick of things and starred in the Victorian jumper for the second time this year.
“I just want to get into Vic Metro again after not being able to really play this year,” Clayton said. “Was concussed in the first game and just had to sit on the bench the whole time.
“Wasn’t allowed to play with Beacy for seven weeks afterwards as well, so I missed a lot of Beacy games too.”
Clayton’s next challenge is her long awaited Hallam Senior College football academy debut coming up in a local school tournament and playing for her Beaconsfield Eagles in the South East Juniors Youth Girls’ competition.
Clayton wanted to thank her mum and dad – Trish and Wayne – and all her coaches for their help getting her to this point in her life.
Also starring at the national championships were Garfield midfielder Izzy Marsh – listed in the best twice – Cranbourne duo Katelyn Cox and Georgia Gourlay and Hampton Park’s Emily Browning.
