JUST like any sports-loving child Ashleigh Boatman dreamt of representing her country.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But she never expected that opportunity would come through the sport of ultimate frisbee.
Boatman arrived at Dubbo in January this year and after impressing locally and at a representative level she has been named in the under-23 All-Australian squad, a group of the top 100 players in the country.
The top 100 will meet in Melbourne in early December and from that session a final squad will be named for the World Under-23 Ultimate Championships in London next year and Boatman admits when she began playing the game socially she was unaware an opportunity like this was even possible.
"I had no idea, when I first started it was just for fun and to play with friends, I never thought frisbee could go this far, I was always a netball and tennis girl so I didn't even know frisbee was a sport until I started playing at uni," the 22-year-old said.
"It's pretty indescribable, when you're a kid you always imagine playing sport for Australia, that's always the dream but to actually get the chance to have that opportunity is amazing."
Boatman admitted she was shocked to even make the top 100 after missing the selection trial and only submitting the required sporting resume.
But the strength of that resume got her through and she is now determined to make the final team and go to London.
"I think I have a really good chance to make the team, I've been playing for quite a few years now and some of the girls are still quite young so I think I'm a chance but it all depends on how it goes on the day," she said, before speaking about what it would mean to go to the Ultimate Championships.
"I think this is my last chance to do something like this before I have to settle down and get a real job so I thought I'd have a go and it would be amazing if I got to go to London."
Boatman has played at national level competitions before but expects the trials at Melbourne to be an even higher standard than that and said the strength of the local Dubbo Ultimate Frisbee Federation (DUFF) competitions has helped her prepare.
"I didn't expect the Dubbo competition to be so big, coming from Wagga they don't have a town league so I was shocked when I found how many people were into it and it's got even bigger since I've been here this year, they've added two more teams to the league," she said.
Boatman's final trials for the All-Australian team are on December 6-7 at Melbourne with the Ultimate Championships held in July of next year.