The carnival consisted of over 85 students from five primary schools in Port Hedland who’d taken part in the SOAR education program before participating in the all-girls interschool competition.

In the short round-robin style tournament, Port Hedland Primary School were the winners of the day taking home the inaugural SOAR Cup trophy.

Leading up to the carnival, all five schools participated in the SOAR program: a school wellbeing series consisting of four education modules aiming to engage female youth in topics which foster the development of positive attitudes and practices for adolescents, on-and-off the field.

The carnival was organised in large part by Port Hedland Youth Engagement Coordinator Claudia Bailey with the intention of better connecting female youth with the club and football through their schooling environment.

“The SOAR Cup is an extension of our SOAR wellbeing series where we go into schools delivering theory and practical sessions, with the cup being designed to give each school that engaged with the program an opportunity to participate in an interschool football carnival,” Bailey said.

“The day went seamlessly, despite the hot weather conditions the girls still went out and played physically and competitively with no complaints, having a go and trying something new which we were absolutely thrilled to see.”

The carnival was a reward for the students’ work throughout the term and provided an opportunity for the girls to put into practice some of the skills they have learnt throughout the term, working together as a team in an organised game format.

St. Cecilia's Catholic Primary School teacher Rachel Maher highlighted the success of the SOAR program leading up to the carnival.

“Some of these girls have never touched a footy in their lives. Since Claudia has been running SOAR in our school I have had girls learning how to tackle, diving for the ball with no fear and absolutely loving it,” Maher said.

With no other junior female football competitions existing in Port Hedland, the SOAR Cup is the first of its kind and provides a chance for girls to learn, develop and more importantly, have fun.

“It worked well in this region particularly because we don’t have a junior girls competition here, so it was received really well by students, teachers, and parents for that reason,” said Bailey.

“The importance of this event is that we can provide these opportunities to girls in regional areas similar to those that they would receive if they lived in a metro area, giving them a chance to play footy from a young age.

“The ideal impact is to encourage more girls to play footy, providing real tangible career opportunities for some young girls in the Pilbara who want to take their footy to a professional level.”

The West Coast Eagles are incredibly proud to create this opportunity for these students and would like to thank our Youth Engagement Partner BHP for continuing to support female football in regional areas, leading the way for more events and programs like this that can continue to facilitate the development in girls from a young age.

For more information on how to get involved with our SOAR program for 2025 contact Hannah Ashe – hannaha@wce.com.au