Sister act boosts female footy

A no-holds-barred approach to sport has earned Parmelia sisters Shanaya and Sonia Dorizzi spots on the WA women's under-18 Australian football team.

The pair only started playing Australian rules football last year but quickly took to the sport and their natural talent was noticed by State selectors.

Sonia will jet off to Victoria this Friday for the 2015 Interstate AFL Girls 16s Championship in Geelong, after playing in the Under-18 National Youth Girls Championship in Mandurah in May.

The sisters play for South Fremantle Football Club where Sonia, 16, has three key positions: ruck, full-forward and centre half-back.

Sonia said she loved the "toughness" of the sport.

"I love the contact, I think that's what I love most about football is the tackling, and the running," she said.

"It's a bit harder to go back to playing basketball (and not tackle)."

Shanaya, who is a centre half-forward or in the ruck, said even though she and Sonia came to the sport relatively late they were making up for lost time.

"We played in the KickStart team and then got into the (WA Football) Talent Academy which is where we became prepared for senior football and for State 18s and State 16s," she said.

Both agree they would have started playing football earlier if they had known how to get into the sport.

"We want to encourage younger girls and other girls to get into football and can find information about clubs on the WAFL website," Shanaya said.

"People think it's a boy's sport, but it's not, well it's not anymore.

"Female football is the fastest growing sport in Australia."

Sonia said she saw 13-year-old girls playing football, and dreamed of the day there were more female players in each district and, in the not-too-distant future, a full-time women's Australian Football League competition.

"I only found out about it when I was 16 and I think that limited me in a way because I had less experience and we're considered raw players compared to everyone else on the State team," she said.

The girls are aiming to be drafted into the national AFL Women's League, due to start up in 2016 or 2017, following in the footsteps of Peel Thunderbirds' Kira Phillips and Emma Swanson who have been picked up by the Melbourne Football Club.

The King's College students both say they want to be involved in football when they graduate.

Shanaya is interested in sports science and supporting roles in women's football.

"I want to see female football grow, especially in WA, because it is so much bigger in Victoria," she said.

Sonia said she also wanted to move into a sports-related career in coaching, sports psychology or nutrition.

"I want to do something involved in sports, it doesn't really matter what sport it is - but footy is my favourite," she said.