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From
Melbourne to Florida It
may seem like a long way from a Melbourne primary school to a Florida college
soccer team, but somehow Selin Kuralay has managed the journey.It all started on the 25 January 25, 1985, in Melbourne where Selin was born. By the age of 6 Selin joined the local boys team at North Coburg United. It didn't matter that she was a girl because she could spar with the best of them. She moved around clubs during her youth and went to Ringwood City and then to Box Hill United and by 1998 she was a member of the boys Victorian State U13 team that went on to win the National Championships. She went on to became a member of the Victorian team that won the National Youth Championships in 1999. This was when her career was starting to take off. So while juggling school and soccer she even managed a TV debut on Neighbours . It was only a short cameo picturing her performing a few tricks with the soccer ball. But acting was defiantly not her call in life and she continued with the soccer career that was about to skyrocket. She joined the Victorian Vision in the WNSL and she won the their Rising Star award in 2000/2001, which is awarded to the highest polling player who made their starting debut during the season. She became the first Victorian to win the award. Also in 2000 she became a member of the Victorian Institute of Sport and got her first chance to ware the green and gold when she joined the Australian U17 Team that competed in the U17 adidas Cup in Houston, USA. Selin recalls what it was like to play her first match with Australia and how new players go through the same feeling.  "I
know when I first played at the 2000 Adidas Cup, I felt that same nervousness
and the whole excitement of it all. Having now experienced playing many youth
internationals, and senior events as well, it's not as bad because I've been
there, and it's more about helping the others contain that excitement of being
at their first major tournament," she said.Early in 2002 Selin competed in the Oceania U19 Women's Qualifiers in Nuku'alofa Tonga, where she was awarded the top goal scorer for the tournament with a total of 9 goals. Later that year she was a member of the young Matildas team that competed at the inaugural FIFA U19 Women's World Championships held in Canada. She was a very busy girl, but still attending high school when she could make it and in 2003 after a year of injury and a knee reconstruction, she finished her VCE and applied for university. By 2004 she had received a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in Queensland, so she packed up and headed north after deferring a university degree in a Bachelor of Information Technology at Victoria University. Selin got to participate in one of the most sort after events, the Olympic games in Athens. They finished equal 5 th but this Matildas team became the first Australian team to win a match at a senior women's FIFA event and the first Australian's women's to take a point from the USA in any competition. "It's an exciting new challenge being with a new team - playing for Australia but with a whole new group of players. And we (were) going into the tournament with some fairly good results behind us," she said. Selin is currently playing for Florida State University and in only her second game she scored the golden goal to win them the match. "This was awesome," said Kuralay on Seminoles.com. "This is only my second game and I never thought I would be able to help my team with both goals including the game-winner in overtime. I just want to continue to build on a good start and continue to try and help this team win games." Selin's career is currently going strong and she still competes with the Australian team. We'll have to keep an eye out because there will be plenty more from this young talented sportswomen. By Taryn Preston Matildas
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