It’s been a long road to success in a number of ways for Hayley Hutchinson.
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The 16-year-old has committed to the two-and-a-half hour round trip to Albury several times a week from her hometown of Ladysmith, east of Wagga, for the past five years.
She’s now been rewarded with a place on the ACT under-18 state team for the national championships in Tasmania in April – the first of her young career.
Hutchinson has taken her game to new heights in the past two seasons after she was picked up by the Chris Ciriello Coaching Academy and attended the FHE Cup in Perth, playing against international teams.
The striker also played all of last season with the Albury-Wodonga Spitfires in the Capital League and had no trouble finding the back of the net.
“I really enjoying playing at the higher level and I want to keep learning,” Hutchinson said.
“I’m really keen to be able to go away again.
“I’ve been playing in Albury for the last five years and it’s been really good.
“I’ve done the junior representative stuff through the junior Spitfires and North East Knights and last season I played Capital League, which has really helped strengthen my game up.
“Having the older girls around to help and learning how to use your strength more has been great.
“In juniors, you don’t really need it as much, but when you’re playing seniors you need to be stronger on and off the ball, as well as your positioning.
“There’s a lot more mental aspects as you get older.”
Hutchinson commences training with her ACT teammates in February, where she’ll be required to travel two-and-a-half hours to Canberra twice a week.
“For the last couple of years I’ve been trialling for Victoria, but because I played Capital League I had the opportunity to play for ACT,” she said.
“It’s closer and easier than travelling to Melbourne for trials.
“I’ll train with the Spitfires for a month and then start training in Canberra, so I’ll get back before the Capital League season starts.”
Spitfires teammate Summer Sutherland has been named as a shadow player in the ACT squad.
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