Sharp makes Magic
NSW Maccabi Futsal Club’s up-and-coming star Toni Sharp has been offered a chance to take her talents to the F-League, Australia’s national futsal competition.
After Sharp’s promising 2014/15 season with Maccabi’s Under-17 and Women’s sides, the 16-year-old was invited to join F-League’s Inner West Magic, which proudly ranks among one of the most successful futsal clubs in NSW.
Speaking to the AJN before the first training with her new team, Sharp said, “It’s amazing because futsal is definitely my favourite sport. Knowing that I have gone through the ranks at Maccabi and now reached the highest place for women’s futsal [in Australia] is a really good feeling.”
A voracious defender (it’s called ‘pivot’ in futsal) for Maccabi since she was 11, Sharps credits the Jewish club with her development.
“[Maccabi] got me into futsal, they nurtured me and my skills,” she said.
“Through all the great coaches that have come to Maccabi and coached me, I’ve improved enough to get to this level so it’s to them I owe everything.”
While Sharp says she is under no illusions in getting an immediate playing opportunity with Inner West, this experience will put the Reddam House student in the best position going forward in her career.
“This year I think [my role is] on the bench, because I’m quite young and I haven’t played that caliber or that level before,” she said.
“Plus the team travels around Australia and I’m still in school so it will be a developmental program for the next couple years and hopefully I can make the team in the future.”
Not only will Sharp play and practice alongside Australia’s finest futsal-ers, but, because it’s a national competition, rules dictate that she receives four points towards her ATAR score.
And she won’t be navigating the testing waters of elite futsal alone: Sharp’s non-Jewish teammate at Maccabi, Emma Scott, who won the golden boot her team the past two years, was also offered a spot at Inner West Magic.
Along with Scott, Sharp is a rising force within the code and says that she hopes her efforts and achievements may inspire other Jewish girls to help make up a futsal team at the 2017 Maccabiah in Israel.
ADAM BLAU
Pictured: Toni Sharp (left, in blue) in action for Maccabi’s Under-17 futsal team. Photo: Les Sharp
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