MOST up and coming footballers are inspired by those already excelling in the sport.

But for Western Australia (WA) forward, Tanisha Anderson, her Mum is the driving force behind her AFL Women’s dream. Living in Bunbury, which is about two hours from Perth, has meant that Anderson and her Mum have had to make many sacrifices to help the 16 year-old play football.

“It’s been very difficult because Mum’s a single mum, I haven’t seen my Dad for a few years so Mum’s always trying to get off work early, swap a shift, doing night shifts,” Anderson said. “So she comes off night shifts and takes me up to Perth, takes me home and then she’s got to get up the next day at least three times a week most weeks, sometimes four.” So it’s been very difficult, and my sister has missed out on a lot of things that she’s wanted to do because of my sport because I don’t just play footy, I play other sports. “Everything’s really difficult but Mum’s pushed me through and she didn’t get to follow her dream in her sports, she wanted me to follow mine and she’s helped a lot.”

Another thing that has helped Anderson in her journey to the top is being a part of the Rookie Me Academy. As usual, her Mum got her on board, with the help of her coaches. Anderson admits she wasn’t aware of it initially.

“I didn’t know about it until it was in Victoria,” the WA forward said. “I didn’t even know it was in WA until my coach told me about it in Victoria. “They asked Mum and Mum signed me up for it and everything. “Then I went over there nervous as because I didn’t know anyone… so I went and did that and made some friends with some other girls and the guys, and still get in contact with some of the guys and it was really good.”

Now being in the Academy, Anderson is enjoying the learning experience. She is combining this with playing for the Bunbury Bulldogs in the South West Football League.

“(Rookie Me) is really intense but it’s really good and I learned a lot from it from Robbie (Campbell) and that,” she said. “I went to Rookie Me again this year, and play for Bunbury Bulldogs locally when I have byes. “Then I tried out for (WA) again this year, being a train-on last year, I was a shoe-in this year and got my chance to come and play with all the older girls that have a lot of talent and versatility. “Everyone’s got so much knowledge about football and I’ve learned lots of things.”

From playing at Bunbury and also for East Perth in the Western Australia Women’s Football League (WAWFL) Rogers Cup, Anderson has developed a key strength in her game.

“I love kicking goals, that’s the best part of footy and I feel like my strengths are kicking and leading, sometimes set shots depending on my mood, (I’ve) got to get control of that sometimes,” the 16 year-old said. “I’ve got to work on my forward pressure and everything, I’m more of a person that just likes to kick the ball.”

Anderson came fourth in the Rogers Cup goal kicking tally, with 22 goals from 10 games. For Bunbury, she topped the goal kicking tally in the Youth Girls competition with 29 goals from 11 games. Despite her love of playing in the forward line, Anderson says she gets thrown into different positions, and she doesn’t mind it.

“I like playing forward but I’ll go anywhere for the team like in my WAFL (Western Australia Football League) side, I get put back and everything,” the WA representative said. “I don’t mind, I used to play ruck when I was younger, I think this is the first year I haven’t played ruck.”

When she was younger, plenty of opportunities came her way, helping her get to where she is now.

“I started (playing football) in year three, I saw the boys playing so I was like ‘oh I want to go jump in’,” Anderson said. “So I played for the Dalyellup Dockers down in Bunbury, Western Australia and since then I’ve been asked to try out for girls teams and everything. “I played with them for seven years or something like that, and I went to a NAB search day and then they asked me to play for Peel, so I played for Peel for a year and then I moved to East Perth. “When I was at Peel, my coach asked me to do Rookie Me, and before that in that same year I did state 15s. “Then the year after, I moved to East Perth and I’ve stayed with East Perth since then. “I tried out for state 18s because the NAB search people told me to, but I was too young to take so they told me to either train with them or go focus on 15s, so I did that.”

This year, Anderson got the opportunity to play with the WA Under 18 representative side on the Gold Coast. She kicked two goals from five games and was named in the best once. With her draft year being next year, Anderson has another Under 18s season to prove that she has what it takes to play AFL Women’s. This is her ultimate goal.

“AFL Women’s is my number one goal but I want to study and go to uni and either be a sports teacher or do something to do with law and all that,” Anderson said. “I work at a courthouse, I have a traineeship but footy is my main focus so I have to try and find so much time for football (and) put everything aside for my footy.”