Five Port Stephens footballers have been selected to represent Northern NSW at the Australian Futsal Association National Championships scheduled to be held in Sydney during the April school holidays.
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The talented group comprises 12-year-old Zara Shaw, plus Chloe Shaw, Charlotte Lowrie, Charli Vogtmann and Oliver Martin, all aged 10.
The tournament was scheduled to be held over four days during the school holidays.
Having missed out on competing at the AFA Futsal School Nationals in Brisbane in 2020 due to COVID-19, the players had been training hard with their Northern NSW teams in Newcastle and were excited to compete at the tournament.
The Futsal training is in addition to their current football club training and games.
The girls recently won the U12 Girls Broadmeadow Futsal competition together, a big achievement with most of the girls aged 10 and playing in a higher (under 12) age group.
The national tournament was expected to be a great opportunity to compete against Sydney teams and strong players from other states.
Zara represented Northern NSW in U12s girls and Oliver in U10 boys. Chloe, Charlotte and Charli played together in the Northern NSW U10 girls team.
All five started football locally at Nelson Bay Football Club. Charli and Charlotte currently play football for Broadmeadow Magic Junior Development League and Zara and Chloe play for Newcastle Olympic FC WPL and JDL respectively. Oliver plays for New Lambton JDL.