For Aimee Phillips, joining Sydney Olympic for the 2021 NPL NSW Women’s season has proven to be a great decision and their position at the top of the table is just the icing on the cake for the eight-time New Zealand International, who is happy to have settled into the new team environment.
“Being top of the table is what we wanted, especially with the injuries and players out and a lot of players have had to step up,” she explained.
“Moving to Sydney Olympic and starting to get to know the girls it’s really helped because all the girls are obviously so nice and they’re very lovely people, so they’ve really made it easy for me to transition in and have a good season.
“They need to be able to pass me the ball and we all need to work together so I’m very grateful to the team and this season I’m pretty happy with how I’ve been going.”
The football pause, due to stay-at-home restrictions, came just as Olympic were gearing up for a top-of-the-table clash with the Northern Tigers, and while the halt is disruptive to the momentum they were building, Phillips is trying to look at it from a positive point of view.
“I’m a bit mixed about it, I’m annoyed that it stopped our momentum of playing but at the same time it’s good for our players and the team to get rid of the injuries and feel better in general mentally and physically as well.
“Every game Is very physical so I’ve been very lucky that I can freshen up any niggles that I have had or just give my body a little bit of time to rest.
“We’re still training just as hard but it’s a lot better going on your own schedule, and I’ve had a lot more time to do a lot of strength-based activities like weights to actually build my strength.”
Aside from enjoying some time to work on getting her body right, Phillips has been taking some time to stay social through networking on social media.
“I’ve just been really networking with a lot of people on social media, just talking to them, figuring out what they do with their businesses and with football and just connecting with other people.
“I’ve just really enjoyed doing that, connecting with other people that I don’t usually talk to.
“Everything that you’re following, that’s actually affecting who you are, that’s affecting your mental state, so I try to be very careful with what I put into my head and I’m very careful with what I select and the channels that I try to follow.
“If they’re not motivating, if they’re not uplifting or making me feel better about my team or anything, then obviously I don’t want to be involved in it.”
As for the remainder of the 2021 season, Phillips is eager to help her team achieve some big goals.
“To win the premiership is the goal and to win finals football, we haven’t done that as a club.
“I’m enjoying being involved and I would really love to score more goals and help the team.”
-By Madeline Riley
