Salmon's found her team, and she wants the next generation to too

Growing up, Carly Salmon looked in on team sports from the outside.

A highly successful sprinter, Salmon said while she enjoyed her time as an individual athlete, she was never passionate about it.

Now a ParaAsian Cup champion and ParaMatilda captain, Salmon has become part of the team she never saw.

Carly Salmon (right) with miniroo Zara, and teammate Rae Anderson celebrating the ParaMatildas ParaAsian Cup win. Picture via ParaMatildas Facebook

"It honestly gives me goosebumps thinking about it," Salmon said.

"I just, I never knew, there wasn't many opportunities when I was a little kid, so I just thought that athletics was it, it wasn't something I was very passionate about, but there's just something about team sports, we're like a little family, I just love how you get to build each other up, it's not all about you, it's more than a game.

"I'm so so excited that we're kind of creating that pathway for people to do the same thing, it's really cool."

And the next generation of children with cerebral palsy are already looking up to the pathway Salmon and her teammates are making.

One such future ParaMatilda, Zara, stole the team's heart ahead of their ParaAsian Cup grand final win on Saturday.

Though she knew her team was doing something special, Salmon said young Zara stole their hearts.

"We were only introduced to her when we walked out onto the field, that was out first introduction with her," Salmon said.

"She stole all of our hearts, she is the sweetest little girl and she has so much confidence.

"She wrote both Katelyn [Smith] and I little notes saying I want to be a ParaMatilda like you when I'm older and it's just melted our hearts.

"I think it's kind of been thrown around quite a lot that our team are inspirational and we're paving a pathway for people with disabilities, and I think it's one thing to say that but then actually seeing people like Zara, and there was quite a few young ones that came through with cerebral palsy, wearing leg braces, to actually see those girls looking up to us and the amount of times we had little kids we cerebral palsy there saying to us, you girls are amazing, we want to be like you, and they've already gone out and asked their parents for football boots and talking about us to their classmates was the coolest thing ever."

But it isn't just the children with cerebral palsy that are looking up to the team.

A year two primary school teacher in Canberra, Salmon has been introducing her students to para-sport.

Initially apprehensive that their teacher does in fact play for Australia, Salmon said the students have started to become really interested in para sports and what they mean.

They even watched a game in class last week.

"I think I've definitely won them over," she said.

"I think they'll finally believe me now when I say I play for Australia, and I've been sent a few of their drawings and things, and they've all included the word 'para' which is amazing.

"I think this tournament has been a really, really powerful way of explaining what the ParaMatildas are all about."

While she's found her stride in team sports, Salmon admitted there are still times when her athletics training comes in handy, like when scoring a goal while keeping during the ParaAsian Cup.

"I just could not help myself," she said.

"I felt a little bit guilty after the game but I did grow up as a sprinter for 15 years so at times I did find it quite difficult to kind of stay in my box from the back."

Originally published in The Daily Advertiser. Thumbnail image via Football Australia/Facebook