FOR the second year in a row, Bathurst goalkeeper Jessica Daymond has been selected as part of the Australian All Schools girls soccer side, which will tour the United Kingdom and Ireland in January.
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Daymond, who has been plying her trade at club level with the Western NSW Mariners FC side in women’s Premier League 2, was part of the NSW Schools side which was undefeated at the national titles earlier this year.
She and her team-mates in the Australian side will play nine or 10 matches, depending on the availability of one opponent, against a selection of sides from one of the sport’s spiritual homes.
They will take on sides such as Ireland Schools, Welsh Colleges, English Colleges and other similar outfits to their own.
Having spread her Year 12 studies over two years to cope with the demand of her sport, Daymond can now rest easy after finishing the last of her HSC exams last week.
She says that her performance at the nationals played a bigger part in her selection than her incumbency as part of last year’s Australian team.
“I think it was moreso the stuff I did for NSW. I feel like I’ve improved a little bit since last year. At least I hope I have,” she said.
“There are a few players back in the side again from 2013. There were some others like me who did the ‘pathways’ program for Year 12.
“Going undefeated at the national titles certainly helped.
“I still get excited getting named in sides like this. Just the fact that you get to go overseas is a huge part of it.”
The esteem in which Daymond is held was illustrated recently when she was crowned goalkeeper of the year within Premier League 2 at the Football NSW awards night.
Having completed that award-winning effort with the Mariners, she will be moving on to different pastures next year, having recently trialled with, and won, a spot for the Blacktown Spartans in the Premier League 1 competition.
Effectively, she is playing for a team that is one tier below the W-League.
The workload is already heavy, and barely a month after the conclusion of the 2014 season, she is in training for the 2015 version.
“I’m training with Blacktown once a week at the moment and doing some training back here on my own in the meantime as well,” Daymond explained.
From there, she has set her sights on following a fellow Bathurst goalkeeping ace.
“After the season next year I want to try and follow the same path that Bryce Deaton has taken and head over to the United States to go to college,” she said. “It’s a way of doing what I love and getting an education at the same time.”
