Abby nearly quit at 13. By 18 she was training with the best in the game.
A goalkeeper from the NSW South Coast, her first structured strength and conditioning program at 15, written by Sami from 5am High Performance, and everything that followed: a Football NSW tournament award, a US football scholarship, and The Keeper Institute camp in New Jersey with former US national keeper Jill Loyden. Told in her words.
The last season
Abby joined South Coast Flame, her regional representative team, because she wanted to play with people who loved football as much as she did. She had already told her dad, who coached her community side, that the season would be her last. She trialled as a midfielder and made the team. Within weeks the club lost a senior keeper, every goalkeeper moved up a grade, and the under-14s had nobody in goal. Abby said yes. She was not happy about it.
“Of course, that mindset changed dramatically within that year, where I kept improving and fell more and more in love with the position.”
The first real program
Accepted into the Illawarra Academy of Sport as a Future Star, Abby walked into her first session straight off a two-week development tour of the UK, training with Fulham, Celtic, Wolves and Loughborough University. She had been to the gym before. She had never followed a program. The academy's strength and conditioning was built and run by Sami from 5am High Performance, and this is where Abby's training was written for her sport and her position for the first time, with goals on paper for the short, medium and long term: NPL 1, being paid to play, playing internationally.
“I had gone to the gym before but I had never followed a program or had much education about what I should be doing as an athlete, let alone a female goalkeeper.”
The year the numbers moved
A full year of structured strength and conditioning under Sami from 5am High Performance, built around a goalkeeper's needs and retested along the way. In the same year she debuted for Flame's first grade women's side, was named in the under-23s semi-final squad, was awarded goalkeeper of the tournament at Football NSW's Talent Support Program, and was recruited by NPL 1 club Macarthur Rams for the 2025 under-18s season.
“The strength and conditioning program I was given undoubtedly boosted my performance. I was able to jump higher, move quicker, and become more forceful in throwing and kicking, proven by my testing results as well as my achievements and performance.”
America, alone
Abby moved to the United States by herself, on a football scholarship to an elite international boarding school. She travelled the country for tournaments against international and collegiate opposition, shadowed professional side Tampa Bay Sun and trained with their goalkeeper coach Tristin Stuteville, and attended The Keeper Institute camp in New Jersey with former US national keeper Jill Loyden. She kept running her own programs the whole time. The education on load, recovery and nutrition travelled with her, down to doing her own grocery shopping for recovery and performance.
“I was so fortunate to have had the education on recovery, nutrition, health and strength and conditioning, as I was able to continue my training programs in America to continue improving as a goalkeeper.”
Looking to the future
Back in Australia, Abby trains weekly with the Junior Matildas goalkeeper coach and was accepted into the Female High Performance Program with Wollongong Wolves and UniActive. What matters now is that she is ready for it. The foundation she built from 15 means she can manage her own load, recovery and nutrition, keep improving independently wherever football takes her, and walk into senior environments prepared. The education travelled with her to the other side of the world and held up. The goals she wrote down at 15 are being ticked off in order, and the biggest ones are still ahead.
“Right now I am 18 years old and am actually really proud in this moment answering these questions.”
“I started as a kid who just wanted to play somewhere people were as excited as I was to show up. I never considered being a professional footballer as a real possibility. Now I have people all over the world I am incredibly grateful to know, and it has all come from football. It truly is a big family.”
Your athlete's pathway starts with a plan.
Academy intake opens 19 October, 20 places a month. Parents see the plan and the testing from week 1.