YEAR 12. It’s a year filled with stress, an everest of homework and a minimal social life.

Geelong Falcons star Nina Morrison is in the midst of the difficult year, but sits across from me with a beaming smile on her face. That’s because she is balancing her studies with her passion for sport, as she tackles tennis, football and soccer in her busy life. The talented midfielder’s week is obviously pretty jam-packed, and that’s without taking homework into account.

“I’ve got footy training on Monday and Wednesday and then the game on the weekend,” Morrison said. “Then I’ll have two soccer sessions at school and then a game on the weekend, so it’s pretty busy.”

But the 18 year-old says the Falcons program has allowed her to balance her studies with her sport.

“It’s been pretty busy obviously with doing Year 12 and VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) but I think I found that footy and school and having a bit of both, you get a bit of balance,” Morrison said. “So it’s been good for both aspects to give me a break from school and play footy, and they (Geelong) give me a break from footy to do a bit of schoolwork.”

Morrison is interested in going to university next year and studying a subject in the science faculty, but she also hopes to take her footy to the next level.

“I might look to play a bit of VFL at the end of the under 18s season, but at the moment I’m just focusing on the TAC Cup,” the talented midfielder said.

The 18 year-old grew up as many female footballers did, with a footy in her hand and a backyard to kick the ball around with her brothers and her dad. Even though her career in the game has only spanned just over two years, Morrison admits that she feels like she has got a good hold on the game.

“I’d always been kicking the footy from a young age so even though I haven’t been playing as of such, I’ve always had a footy in my hand,” she said.

She has had the footy in her hand plenty of times this season, as she has been dominating in the midfield for her undefeated team. The Geelong Falcons finished third last year but sit at the top of the ladder this season after winning seven consecutive games so far. Although the side had lost some players at the end of last year, Morrison believes that the team’s youngsters are putting the Falcons on the right path.

“I thought we kept a really solid core from last year who have been playing well and a couple of new girls have come in and been really exciting,” the 18 year-old said. “I think we’ve had really solid depth through the season and we haven’t really relied on just a few players so I think that’s been really good for us this year.”

Geelong takes on fellow undefeated TAC Cup Girls side, Northern Knights in round eight, and Morrison is looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s a pretty big game obviously,” the Falcons midfielder said. “They (Northern) haven’t lost a game either so it will be a really good contest.”