WA Girl First International CaptainThursday, October 17, 2013 - 2:12 PM

The AFL embarked on an ambassadorial tour of the north island of New Zealand recently. But instead of it being St Kilda and Sydney Swans flying the flag it was the Australian Breeze, a team of Youth Girls.

WA’s Sabrina Frederick-Traub (Peel Thunderbirds) was selected as the Captain of the first ever Australian Youth Girls AFL Tour of New Zealand. When Sabrina  addressed her New Zealand audience she said, "who would have thought that an English born Jamaican  would ever be selected as a captain of Australia?" At sixteen years of age ‘Sabz’ places her name in football history as the first International touring captain of a female AFL team.

On tour she was joined by fellow West Australians Ashley Sharp (Swans Districts), Michelle Cowan (Head Coach and recent winner of the Football Woman of the Year Award) and Dana Pimley (Head trainer for Fremantle FC).

"The team was one of the best group of girls I have met," Frederick-Traub said. "We got on really well with the Kahus (NZ Youth Girls) and learnt a lot about ourselves through the leadership program."

AFLNZ welcomed the Tour as a way of growing awareness around youth girls being able to pay AFL. It’s a sport very much in it’s infancy in New Zealand. "The Breeze were great ambassadors for AFL and their country," said AFLNZ CEO Robert Vanstam. "The girls formed great friendships with  the Kahus who learned a great deal about AFL from the Australians."

Go to AFL kicksforchicks Facebook page for more information and photo galleries of the Tour:

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/AFL-Kicks-for-Chicks/124433170921084