Alyce Parker

FOOTBALL has always been a passion for Holbrook’s Alyce Parker and her dream of playing at the top level is closer to becoming a reality.

 The 16-year-old is among the finest youth girls talent in the country and is a threetime All-Australian. Parker’s performances have led to her becoming the seventh nomination for the Norske Skog Young Achiever of the Year Award for 2017.

 Vice-captain of Billabong High School’s state champion 2016 women’s AFL team, Parker was also a member of the under 18s NSW Youth Girls AFL team that won its division at the 2016 National Championships.

 She was voted the best and fairest player from the NSW, Tasmania, South Australia and Woomera team and selected in the All Stars youth team as one of the 40 best youth girls in Australia.

 Parker was also the vice-captain of the 2016 North East Youth Girls team and named in the best team of the V-Line Cup.

Despite carrying an ankle complaint, Parker recently returned from the first ever Women’s NAB AFL Academy at the AIS in Canberra.

 Players were chosen on the back of their performances at the under 18s Youth Girls National Championships in Melbourne last year.

 “I was in the rehab group because of my injured ankle, but we trained every day and went through sessions from resilience to nutrition and recovery,” Parker said.

 “It was an amazing experience, I learned absolutely everything to do with football and we did all our combine testing.”

The top 33 girls from all over the country are put into level one and level two, with Parker featuring in level one which is made up of the leading under 16s players.

 “We won’t get drafted for two years, but the level two group will be ready for the draft next year,” Parker said. “We get access to AFL clubs, so being from NSW, I go with the Giants.

 “I got to spend a couple of training sessions with the Giants girls. “Living in Albury means I can’t get up there every week, but I will start training in Canberra every second week with the Giants base.”

 Parker didn’t play her first game of football until the age of 12 and made her first representative team the following year, in 2013.

 “I love my netball too, but being able to play football and how different it is with the physicality is what I love about it,” she said.

 “I was kicking the football from a very young age with Dad living on the farm and football has been in our family ever since I was born. “It’s amazing that I can actually do it now.

 “They say about 87 per cent of people who are part of the academy get drafted, so it provides an amazing pathway and opportunities to make it a reality.”