Lydia Williams: From becoming a goalkeeper by chance to Australian centurion
As one of our profiles for the 'World at Their Feet' series, we take a look at the journey of Australia's no.1 Lydia Williams.
Football
There are some football players who know from day one what they want to be, while for others, it comes later in life.
Lydia Williams was 11 years old when she stumbled into the path of a goalkeeper by chance.
Having moved to Canberra with her family and knowing no one, the shot-stopper chose football as her preferred sport to try and integrate herself into the community.
After turning up late to registration, though, the only position left for her to try her hand at was goalkeeping… the rest, as they say, is history.
It has been almost 20 years since she made her national team debut, and Williams is now a centurion, having amassed over 100 appearances for the Matildas.
“When I reached 100 caps, I never thought that this would have been possible,” she told Olympics.com.
“Having the belief of my team-mates and coaches, it was pretty overwhelming to know that I’ve been around so long.”
Representing her nation at a home World Cup will be something of a bittersweet moment for the goalkeeper, who has already tipped the competition to be ‘insane’.
It will mark yet another major tournament without her late father able to watch on as he sadly passed before ever watching her play for their beloved homeland.
“I remember the last thing he told me was that he’ll always be looking after me,” Williams said.
“I hold that in everything that I do in life and as long as I am proud of what I’m doing, and support what my mum and dad would have, then I know that I’m doing the right thing.”
Lydia turned that hurt into motivation for her career and work tirelessly to reach the very top. Her inclusion in the Matilda’s World Cup squad on home soil is just the latest instalment of that hard work paying off.
“All of us [Australia players] have been in positions where we’ve experienced heartbreak, we have experienced nearly being there.
“We don’t want that to happen again, so I think that is our driving leading into it. We want to achieve.”
To watch Lydia Williams' sit down interview with Olympics.com in full, click on this link here.