In 2022, Carly Salmon wanted a change.
After representing Australia in athletics, Salmon decided it was time to take a step back from a sport that had been part of her life at an elite level for a very long time.
Little did Salmon know that this would put her on the path to becoming a ParaMatilda and representing Australia at the highest level in CP (Cerebral Palsy) football.
“My journey has been been a bit crazy to this point,” Salmon shares with the PFA.
“It honestly just got to a point where I got sick of running in a straight line. As a young kid, I grew up playing just about every single team sport you can think of… I was pretty competitive and loved it, but from about 13 I had to sign a contract with Athletics Australia, which meant that I couldn’t do anything else but athletics, which was great for a few years.
“I think starting so young at an elite level, I got pretty burnt out. The plan in 2022 was to just take a step back from high performance sport and just go back to having having fun in sport because I definitely lost the love for it. Which was unlike me because it was what got me out of bed in the morning.
“I just went back to playing random team sports. I played beach volleyball, tennis, touch, whatever social sport I could get my hands on, and one of them was soccer.
“There was a para-soccer program in Canberra and I went along to that and honestly… even the first session just seeing group of people with disabilities having so much fun playing sport got me hooked.
“I started going to that once a week and I really loved it. But I guess my plan was to never get back into high performance sport, I just really, really loved mucking around and having fun and being in a team environment with different people.
“Kelly (Stirton) [ParaMatildas coach] was actually the one that created that para-program and she wasn’t coaching at the time, but I did see her sneakily turn up to one of the sessions and watch me train. So I got the call that they needed an extra player at Nationals in 2022 and from there it’s honestly just been crazy.
“[Playing for the ParaMatildas] was never the plan, but I’ve honestly fallen in love playing with the group of girls that are currently in the team.”
Para Football is a tailored version of football for those who have Cerebral Palsy, Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and symptoms resulting from a stroke, to play the game in a modified environment.
The ParaRoos – the men’s equivalent – have been a regular at World Cups for over 20 years and are currently ranked 10th in the world.
But in recent times, more doors have opened in the women’s game, after the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football held the first ever Women’s World Cup two years ago in Spain.
The ParaMatildas – on the first time of asking – fell just short of being crowned world champions, losing in the final to the United States in extra time.
The ParaMatildas have taken enormous strides since that tournament, with Salmon playing a huge role in their success.
Salmon – who was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at 18 months old – co-captained the team that took home the 2023 IFCPFA Asia-Oceania Championship in Melbourne. The ParaMatildas have since been anointed world number one heading into this year’s World Cup.
But it was the “insane” experience playing at the Home of the Matildas last year which left a lasting impression on her.
“There are clearly some people working in the background that have so much passion for CP (Cerebral Palsy) football,” she said.
“The whole event was extremely professional. The fact that we had the opportunity to play at a facility like that. We were able to access the change rooms that Matildas have used, which was amazing.
“Everything about the competition, the social media [presence] helped with exposure that it is quite a professional game. The whole setup, even winning the trophy at the end and lifting it up with the huge banner that you see at professional matches, with the confetti and things like that just made it feel like a high performance environment.
“In the same breath, with the exposure that we had, and having lots of people come out and watch, we had lots of young girls with CP come out and watch. We even got to walk a few of them out on the field at the start of the game, and just talking to their parents afterwards and them saying they’re going through the age where they are starting to realise what Cerebral Palsy means and starting to fall behind and the world’s not fair.
“But being able to see that you have the opportunity to do amazing things regardless of your disability, has really changed their perception of their disability within a few games watching us play… So even just reflecting on that was absolutely insane because I had nothing like that growing up.”
Playing sport has helped greatly from a mental health perspective too, not just for her, but for many others going through a similar experience to Salmon – who also tapped into the PFA’s mental health resources.
“It makes a huge difference to your quality of life,” she said.
“Even just reflecting on my journey, the doctors initially said when I got the diagnosis that I would never play sport and at the time, I was 18 months old, so it’s not like I got that information and I was super sad straightaway, but I grew up in a family that was extremely competitive and so over time, I think my parents kind of had that thought that ‘oh, she’ll never be able to play by sport’.
“But through the help of physios and I did a lot of rehab things over time, it was clear that I was starting to become strong enough to be able to keep up with my peers and to be able to participate.
“Sport is pretty incredible because it can be pretty adaptable. There’s lots of different ways that you can adapt the sport in some way to be able to participate and you can kind of allow it to to focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses.
“Even something like football, my left side is quite weak and I don’t have a lot of balance. But it’s actually been amazing just working with coaches and physios and to try and use that to my advantage but also work on strategies to make it look like I’m going to use my left side but quickly fade out.
“Sport is incredible for that because it can really focus on your strengths rather than what you’re lacking, but it also forces you to be creative like it’s pretty fun. I can’t imagine not having a disability now, I think it would be quite boring turning up to training whereas now I love turning up with coaches or physios and being like, ‘right, my left leg is not letting me do this. How else can we do it?'”
Although para-sport has grown significantly over the last few years, Salmon hopes it can continue to become even bigger in the future, without a stigma being attached to it.
“I think just the perception of para sport at the moment. The opportunities to play sport have grown a lot, but I do still think they were kind of seen as a bit of a novelty event that you have on the side,” she said.
“People naturally want to be inclusive, but I do think they see us as… ‘oh, that’s really lovely, they’re trying really hard’. But I do kind of want that perception to change to… they’re high performance elite athletes in their own right.
“Yes, they have… a disability but I don’t even like that word, because that means you’re not able to do something and where I feel like all humans are not able to do something.
“I would love to see that perception change, to become or to be viewed as a high performance elite athlete in our own rights, just like everybody else, along with the exposure of para-sport.
“At the World Cup there was only five teams, and that’s grown to it’s looking like seven teams at the World Cup at the end of the year. But even the Asian Cup, we had two other countries to play against. So I would love to see the exposure of para sports grow all around the world.”
And it’s at the aforementioned World Cup where Salmon hopes to help lead the ParaMatildas to success.
“It would mean the absolute world [to win it]… The thought actually gives me goosebumps,” Salmon said.
“Having the opportunity to play in a team sport with a bunch of girls who I look up to every time we’re together and learn so much from them but also our staff is super passionate. At the moment we don’t have a lot of funding. They don’t get paid much at all, if anything from what I’m aware of, but they just have so much passion and they’re with us 100% of the way, their support is insane.
“So just the thought of being able to represent our country at a World Cup, when I thought my sporting journey was kind of over is something that’s crazy to think of. I’m super pumped.
“The main goal is to win the World Cup and to remain number one.”
The ParaMatildas are supported by the PFA’s Footballers’ Trust. If you would like to contribute to the Trust, donate here.
