By Bethany Alvaro
Miah O’Shea, Year 10 student at Marist Sisters College, Woolwich, is a powerful advocate for girls in sport and last year represented Sydney Catholic Schools and her own school community in an incredible 12 sporting events.
These include touch football, Oztag, netball, AFL, Rugby Sevens, softball, triathlon, aquathon, athletics, cross country, badminton and league tag.
Outside of her school community, Miah is an active member of the wider sporting world, playing netball, OzTag, athletics, and touch football competitively.
She encourages girls to get active and get involved in sport either competitively or socially.
Her advice? “Give it a go, you don’t have to be good at it, just push yourself to be the best version of yourself and put yourself out there.”
Suncorp’s 2019 Australian Youth Confidence Report found that approximately 50 per cent of girls in their teens moved away from sporting activities compared to 30 per cent of boys.
But Miah has remained drawn to sport as “it’s really fun to get yourself out there and the social element is amazing.”
She also appreciates the constant opportunity for growth and improvement it gives her.
“Trying to improve yourself after training and working hard to achieve your goals is definitely an aspect of sport that I just love,” she said. But how did Miah get to this point?
She said she has been playing sport since she was very young, and it “has just stuck”.
“I’ve tried so many sports but the one that really got me into it all was athletics,” she said.
Narrowing down a favourite is no easy feat, “but athletics has a little bit of everything.”
She stresses the importance of Sydney Catholic School sport gala days for personal and communal growth in sport, as they are the “perfect opportunity to see great teamwork and incredible leadership between students.”
“Seeing everyone getting together and participating in such great days is the best,” she said.