At just 15 years of age Lauren Hazell has been given the opportunity of a lifetime and today will travel to Perth as part of the NSW Women’s AFL squad to play in the national championships.
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The Year 10 Dubbo College Senior Campus student was introduced to the sport by her dad, David Hazell, who has been part of the Dubbo Demons since Lauren was born.
The young go-getter first started turning heads when she won the Central West AFL’s leading goalkicker for the under-14 boys competition, starring as a full forward for the Demons. That year she became the only girl in the competition’s history to be picked for a Central West representative side.
Two weeks ago she made her first appearance for the Western Wolves in the nine-team NSW Open Women’s competition, kicked two goals on debut and was rushed into the NSW squad to travel to Perth.
“Lauren had only been on for two minutes and she had scored a goal,” her mother Lyndall Hazell said.
The squad contains 25 senior players plus three NSW Development Squad members, one being Lauren.
Lauren, who stands at six foot tall and turns 16 in October, trains during the week with the Demons men at South Dubbo Oval while she travels to Sydney every Friday night for the Western Wolves.
“The club in Sydney said Lauren was so talented that they wanted to do anything to have her,” her mother Lyndall Hazell said.
“While she had been successful in under-14s out here, we never realised just how much talent she has until she went out there and played women in their 20s, some who are former elite rowers and basketballers.
“Now we know she can keep up with them which is good.”
According to her mother, Lauren wants to be a sport and recreation officer when she is older, but her dream is to be a sports physiotherapist for the Sydney Swans.
“She’s certainly meeting the right people at the moment to achieve her dream,” Lyndall Hazell said.
“Her father taught her everything she knows and we’ve always lived in a cul-de-sac so they’ve always kicked a ball around.”
Lauren’s sporting talents are not restricted to the AFL ground either, having recently scored five goals in a game for Orana Spurs in the Dubbo All-Age Women’s Soccer competition.
Kevin Murray from the Dubbo Demons organised sponsorship to assist Lauren in getting over to Perth. She will also be accompanied by her father and flies out of Dubbo today.
The national championships start tomorrow and finishes on Sunday with the first three matches against South Australia, Northern Territory and hosts Western Australia.
