Skilful centre-back on world stage

TEENAGE soccer superstar Silver Bell Morris has had her young career recognised by the Bendigo Sports Star committee, winning the scholarship award for July.

Born in Myanmar, Morris spent time in a refugee camp on the Burmese-Thai border before migrating to Australia with her family in 2013.

She didn’t know any English, but she knew soccer, and after joining Golden City Football Club her star began to rise.

Getting selected in teams quickly became a theme for Morris, playing for School Sport Victoria, then at a program called Talent Identification and Development Centre.

Now she plays for the Football Victoria Emerging Matildas in the NPL Victoria.

Most recently, the 18-year-old laced up for the Junior Matildas under-18 team, which won the AFF U18 Women’s Championship earlier this month in Indonesia. The team played a 2-0 final against Thailand.

“We had a pretty successful tournament. We won all our games,” she said.

“The experience was unbelievable, it was a bunch of girls that had all different talents and it was so good meeting all different people and representing your country.”

Morris plays as a centre-back and said although she lacks the height usually associated with the position, she loves to defend.

“Each team I join all I want to do is give it my all and help my teammates, do my part and make everything easy for my teammates so they don’t have to work extra hard just to get the result we want,” she said.

Morris currently travels to Melbourne three to four times a week for the FV Emerging team.

She said she’s hoping to go far in her soccer career and has her eye on the A-League Women competition.

“When you get into an environment of course you learn, and I’m ready to take that step,” she said.