SIENNA SAVESKA – PROFILE PIECE
The Illawarra has witnessed several upcoming female football players over the years, including Sienna Saveska, a current rising star.
Sienna began her football journey with the Port Kembla Junior Football Club at the age of six years old, where she than later became a part of Football South Coast, playing for the Mixed SAP team.
At 11 years of age, Saveska was scouted and selected into the U13’s FNSW Institute side, later developing into an NPLW1 First-Grade player at the age of 15.
It wasn’t until the end of 2021 where Sienna worked her way up into the ranks before she was selected into the Women’s A-League Wellington Phoenix train on squad, located in the heart of Wollongong.
The Saveska family have had to make several sacrifices during the younger days of Sienna’s football career. Herself and her family grew up in Wollongong, where she attended Illawarra Sports High School. They later packed up and moved to Sydney where she would attend Westfield’s Sports High School.
Sienna has achieved many things in her football career, but one of her biggest moments was in 2020 when she became affiliated with the Junior Matilda’s.
“I was selected to attend an elite match for Rae Dower’s U17s Australian Women’s National Team,” she said.
“The selection is based on national identification processes, observation of matches (live or recorded) and/or nominations from member federations.”
After a variety of elite matches with Dower, a group was selected to attend a national elite camp in 2021. Unfortunately, COVID-19 was a huge disruption, however, continuous contact was still met, alongside theory and practical homework requirements.
“My most recent development was being called in Leah Blayney’s U20s Young Matildas camp in April 2022. I was lucky enough to make my national team debut in a friendly match against the New Zealand Football Ferns, having played in a midfield/forward position throughout the camp,” Saveska said.
“This provided even more opportunity as I have recently been selected in the Future Matildas program.
“It definitely wasn’t easy, especially throughout the 2021 lockdown as I was called into various zoom sessions including Pilates, intense fitness sessions, wellbeing, and nutritional classes with Blayney’s 2021 Future Matilda squad.”
Being a part of the Junior Matilda’s Camp has been nothing short of professional for Sienna. The players would wake up at 7am to begin a smart base screening session, followed by training, which would vary between once or twice a day, alongside a recovery session later that day.
“In Dower’s Matilda’s camp, we would get together for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” she said.
“During our free time, we would use this time wisely to catch-up on schoolwork. At times things became stressful, so it was super important for us to keep on top of all aspects in our lives including all our schoolwork and assignments.
“Making sure that I am organised and prepared each, and every day helps me get through these hardships.”
Sienna has achieved and experienced several milestones at such a young age and is continuing to empower the female football community.
“In the last year or two, I have had a few setbacks regarding some ankle injuries, however, my ‘never say die’ mentality, commitment to recovery and love for the game enabled this adversity to better my game and come back even stronger,” she said.
“There have been so many people who have helped me so far throughout my journey and I appreciate all the ongoing support. I will keep striving to fulfill my dreams and hopefully continue to make everyone proud.”
