​This website was started way back when Natasha was 9 years old and had just moved from Australia to Spain. It was started as an easy way for her to show her football videos to her grandparents and friends back in Australia. In the beginning, as you can see, she played for teams that were beaten convincingly but she loved her football and kept playing. As she has progressed along her journey we decided to keep the website going and give an honest appraisal of Natasha’s experiences so young players, especially young girls can see her journey and can see that the journey has many highs and lows but so they can also learn from Natasha’s experience. She never knew when she started this website that she would get to the level she has now. Hopefully, this website helps many young players understand the football journey. Enjoy!

Natasha has been around sport and football since she was born as her father is a professional strength and conditioning coach and her brother began playing football shortly after she was born so she literally grew up in a gymnasium or on a sporting field. Therefore from birth Natasha has always been exposed to copious amounts of sport and football by either being dragged to her brother´s football, her father´s work or having to listen to her father, mother and brother always talking about sport or football.

At the age of 5 (2006) it was automatic that Natasha wanted to play football for her school. This meant that she would have to play against children 1 year older than herself but that was never an issue for her as she wanted to play football like her big brother. Natasha played football in Australia for 3 years before moving to Spain. In Spain it was automatic for all the boys to play football but at that stage not so common for the girls to play football however Natasha wanted to play for her local club even though she was the only female football player in the entire 30 team club(season 2009/10) . While she had a great season she was very despondent due to two little boys who ridiculed the remainder of the team and she decided she did not want to continue to play football.

​Continued below….

aIt was only two months later when a friend asked Natasha if she wanted to play football for an all girls team and Natasha´s face lit up and she said that she would love to play. After two years (2010/11 and 2011/12) at the all girls club Natasha was given an opportunity to train with the Valencia Femenino (Female) Team. It was made clear to her that if she wanted to play for Valencia she would need to go to the trials at the end of the season and trial well enough to be selected. Following two months of training with the Valencia B team in her age group Natasha went to the trials. A few anxious weeks later she received a phone call to say she has been selected to play for Valencia Femenino in the Infantil (13 and under) age group of which Valencia had 4 teams, an A, B, C & D team. On arrival to her first night training she was advised that she had been selected in the Valencia A team. Whilst this meant that she again would be required to play against girls one year older, it also meant she would have two seasons playing at the top level. It was also a rare honour only awarded to the very top players and it meant that she would have to work very hard to increase her skill and physical capacities to compete with her opponents.

Natasha worked very hard as she started working out in the gym and doing speed training along with extra technical training on top of her Valencia training. By the end of the 2012/13 season Natasha was a very competitive and valued member of the team. During the season she grew alot and improved in every aspect of her football to become a starting player for the final 6-8 games of the season. Having competently played and improved during the 2012/13 season, Natasha was an automatic selection in the 2013/14 Valencia A team. This was not taken for granted by Natasha as she only took one month rest at the end of the season before commencing training everyday of the week in the holidays in order to improve every aspect of her football and physical capacities. The 2013/14 season resulted in more physical growth and further improvements in every aspect of herself, physically, technically, tactically and personally. She played key roles in big games by making key plays, creating goals or scoring goals to help a very talented team Valencia A team finish equal first, for the competition but having to be content with second position based on goal difference. This was the best season for a Valencia Feminino A Infantil team in recent years. By the end of the 2013/14 season and while still aged 12 years Natasha could squat over 80kg, run her 40 metres at 6.26 seconds and do her illinois agility test in 17.09 seconds results most 19 year old girls would be proud of.

At the end of the 2013/14 season Natasha´s family decided to move from Valencia to live in Barcelona. This meant Natasha had to leave Valencia Feminino CF which was very difficult for her as she had developed some strong friendships and Valencia CF helped her develop into a very good football player. Also, she had begun playing some trial games on the full sized field and the club co-ordinator told her in one game against a higher level opposition team that she had played the perfect game. However the move to Barcelona resulted in her being invited to train with FC Barcelona being possibly the first Australian footballer ever to be invited to train in the legendary club. She was informed prior to the training that she would not be able to play at FC Barcelona because they had already done their selections but they were so impressed with her football skills that they organized for her to go to a very strong feeder club. Natasha didn´t like the feeder club because she felt the team were not serious enough about their football so she went for a trial at RCD Espanyol. RCD Espanyol were really impressed by Natasha and asked her to play in their A team in her age group (Under 14). A very happy outcome for Natasha.

Season 2014/15 was much more difficult for Natasha than anyone would have expected as she moved from a super talented and brilliant passing football team of Valencia CF to an RCD Espanyol team that played a very individual style of game, holding the ball much longer and not being as precise as her Valencia team with their passing game. It also meant she would have to play another year on the small 7 field which she didn´t enjoy much. Actually a direct comparison between her previous Valencia team and her Espanyol team came at the end of the season when the two teams met in a tournament with Natasha´s former Valencia team comfortably winning the tournament and her Espanyol team finishing a disappointing 4th. However, playing with Espanyol and with the encouragement of her coach it allowed Natasha to work on the weakest parts of her game which was dribbling with the football and shooting at goal and she improved dramatically in these ares. What became noticeable even more strongly in the 2014/15 was Natasha´s ability to influence the result of the games. Her RCD Espanyol team achieved much better results when Natasha played significant game time then if she didn´t play much game time. A game against the competition winners at the end of the season supported this as Natasha was unable to play against the leaders during the season as she wasn´t registered in time for the first game and for the second game she had a virus and could not get out out bed to play.  Both of these games Espanyol lost. Then in a post season competition Natasha the same team, Natasha played and Espanyol won. This also occurred against the equally talented Sant Gabriel A team. Espanyol had 7 of their most highly regarded players unavailable due to various competitions, injury or sickness yet Espanyol won 5-4 with Natasha scoring the winning goal. And an end of season dominating 2-0 victory against Athletic Madrid were just some supportive evidence of this. In The 2014/15 season we also got to see Natasha play some trial games on the full size field, which she would progress to play on in the 2015/16 as she moves to Under 19 age group and WOW everybody was impressed and I mean everybody. Natasha was offered a trial with RCD Espanyol and Levante Las Planas under 19 teams, but after being offered a position in Levante Las Planas Natasha decided to accept the offer as she preferred the coaching style and the hope of playing lots of football. Espanyol finished second and Natasha could now squat 100kg and run her 40m in 6.15s

Season 2015/16 saw Natasha moved away from the more prestigious teams to get more football playing time. While the team she chose, Levante Las Planas is a selective team, it is not at the same level as the likes of RCD Espanyol and Valencia CF, however Natasha wanted to develop her football skill and play much more game time. Natasha again played up ages but this time she was be 14 years old playing against 19 year old girls. She was selected to play in the Levante under 19 B team at the age of 14 and very quickly became their key player. As a key player Natasha worked very hard on her running game and ball winning skills. She improved in every aspect of her game in this season even though the level wasn´t as high as she was used to. In this season she played 42 games, averaged about 70 minutes per game, scored about 10 goals and had many more assists and key passes. She was also asked to play 4 games for the under 19A first division team where she gave a very strong account of herself. Levante Las Planas B finished 8th and Natasha could now squat 100kg to half depth on one leg and could run her 40m in 5.76s.

Season 2016/17 and Natasha decided to stay with Levante Las Planas for a second season but she was made to trial to play for the U19A team when everyone thought she would automatically go up into the A team based on her outstanding performances in the previous season for the B team and the fact that she had already filled in 4 times for the A team and played extremely well. During her trial game she scored a hatrick of goals and was accepted into the A team. This meant that at 15 years old she would be playing in the Under 19 first division competition in Barcelona, Spain. Based on current junior football results this would be one of the strongest areas in the world for junior women’s football. While Natasha played well during the season the coaching and training were disappointing and team selections appeared to have external influences rather than being based on football performance. However, despite this Natasha still managed to improve her football and at the end of this season she was invited to trial for season 2017/18 by 4 teams in the local area, 3 of which were U19 first division teams and she was also invited to trial for the Australian Young Matildas which is the Australian Junior National team. Natasha finished the season playing the Donosti Cup for Women’s Soccer School Barcelona where she had a great experience and played some amazing football. Natasha played 44 games in the season and averaged about 45 minutes per game. At the end of this season Natasha could now squat 150kg to half depth on one leg and could run her 40m in 5.50s.

Season 2017/18 pre-season began with a short rest and a journey back to Australia for Natasha to go into training camp with the Australian U17 team. She came away from the camp absolutely buzzing with a very definite idea of the pathway she wanted to take and the type of footballer she wanted to become. On returning to Barcelona, Spain she accepted an invitation from UE Cabrera to play in their U19A team as they were about to embark on their first season in U19 first division.

Natasha had an absolutely amazing season, so impressive was she that her coach told her that she had the best touch of any player he had ever coached in over 17 years of coaching and that she was like the legendary Andres Iniesta where her ball control was like she had the ball on a string. One of the highest compliments any midfield player could receive. Her ball control, running game, passing game, goal creation and scoring all continued to improve. Her technical football ability, athleticism and ability to run with the ball at her feet terrorized the opposition. Her strength showed in her ability to win so many difficult balls and to hold off defenders as she kept the ball at her feet while scanning the field for best options. She also improved her ability to control a game from her midfield position and to direct the team in order to get the best from them, all without losing focus on her own game.

Natasha played a total of 52 games during the season 2017/18 averaging about 10km per game (80min) only missing 1 game due to a virus. She scored 13 goals which were often important goals, one being the only team goal in the Mic Cup Consolation Final, had at least 8 assists and had too many key passes to count. She traveled over 1,200km in total during training and games, lifted over 35 tonnes of weight with her gym training and in the last 4 seasons she has played 39, 42, 44 and 52 games respectively without any non-contact injuries. Which is extremely impressive considering the collisions and the leg chops she receives in nearly every game. Her strength and speed did not improve alot this season due to the huge playing volume. She can still now half squat 150kg on one leg and her speed has probably improved to about 5.5sec for 40m although we have not tested this in a while.

Natasha was also approached by Nike during the season to help them with information relating to how young female footballers shop for football apparel and boots etc. This relationship has continued to evolve with Natasha invited to help Nike several times during the season and culminating in her testing of the new Phantom Vision boots in July 2018. It is a relationship that Natasha is absolutely thrilled to have.

Natasha played another amazing season in 2018/19 as she continues to establish herself as one of the best players in the U19 Barcelona competition. This season she was asked to play with La Roca and while she was in a very talented team that underperformed, Natasha continued to improve and attract the eye of many football pundits. She played a total of 53 games scoring 14 goals with 14 assists and an absolute mountain of assists and defensive turnovers. All from her defensive midfield position. She made a return to Australia for trials with the Australia U19 and was invited into the Donosti Cup 2019 with the reigning champions and finished an impressive third place to complete another impressive year of development. She also continued to get stronger as she improved her single leg partial squat to 170kg and improved in all other lifts in the gym.

As I read through this summary I can see how Natasha has continued to evolve as a football player. The 2019/20 season Natasha again played with La Roca and dominated the season as everything about her game and playing ability struck fear into opposition teams and coaches. Her speed, strength, ball skills and especially her dribbling ability. The opposition game plans were often focused on Natasha and Natasha didn’t disappoint as she terrorized most teams with her talents but a  turning point came when the coach decided to move Natasha from defensive midfield to attacking midfield and it was WOW! This kid is a natural for this position. Everybody had noticed how she had a great attacking game but she was so good at winning turnovers and transitioning play forward that no coach dared to move her too far forward. However, her coach made the move and it was impressive. She score 4 goals, 1 assist and 14 final key passes in only 5 games. It was clear that we were witnessing the beginning of a transition into attacking midfield of a very talented young player.

At the end of the 2019/20 season Natasha had some trials organized with some prestigious clubs and of those VV Alkmaar made her an offer too good to refuse so Natasha will be playing her 2020/21 season in the Eredivisie Vrouwen League in Holland with VV Alkmaar and she is sooo excitied. Wow what an amazing experience to get her first professional experience in such a prestigious league, in such a beautiful country with a tight nit club full of great people. Natasha had a massive challenge as nearly everything was different to what she was familiar with. The biggest changes that took the most adaptation included the training was more physical with alot more running and much bigger stronger players and more intensity. The training content was significantly different, the weather and temperature was alot different and the pitches were alot bigger and softer than the Spanish pitches. Natasha took a little bit of time to adapt to all these changes but once she adapted her high level of tactical and tactical skills from her long junior development helped her to continue to improve. Natasha didn’t play as many games as she would have liked but she played numerous high quality games with limited chances. Overall, her time at VV Alkmaar came with many challenges but it was a fantastic experience and helped her improve the weaker aspects of her game.