Bunbury-born Matilda Mason a part of inaugural ParaMatildas side competing in the IFCPF Women’s World Cup

In 2019 Matilda Mason attended a come-and-try day with the WA Paras Football squad in Bunbury, where she was first introduced to the sport. Now just three years later, the rising talent finds herself on a soccer pitch in Spain, wearing the green and gold of Australia and taking on the best players in the world. Mason was born and raised in Bunbury and is a part of the inaugural ParaMatildas side currently competing in the International Federation of Cerebal Palsy Football’s Women’s World Cup in Spain. The 30-year-old had a stroke before birth and has left hemiplegia cerebral palsy, meaning her left side is weaker than her right in terms of muscle growth, and qualifies to play for the side in the FT3 disability category — of which teams can have one player on the field at any given time. In their first ever match, the ParaMatildas beat the Netherlands 12-0 with Mason playing eight minutes off the bench. Mason said while the side was hoping to bring home CP Football’s greatest prize, her and her side were focused on enjoying the moment. “Coming to Spain, I just hoped we had some fun really,” she said. “It is a competition, we are going to work hard, but it also about the team enjoying the moment. “It doesn’t come around too often and this is making history for us, so hopefully we can enjoy it while we can.” Mason said it was not easy growing up with CP, and teams sports for her often meant watching from the sidelines. “Growing up I played hockey through school, but not really through the community,” she said. “There was not really many opportunities growing up for me. “I was around a lot of sport, AFL, hockey and swimming, which my siblings were a part of, but I was usually on the sidelines. “If I was part of a team, I would usually be on the bench as a sub.” Due to the difficulty she found in finding a place in team sport, Mason turned to kickboxing, and it was there she said she discovered her self belief. “Things were hard growing up, but as I got older I turned to individual sports such as kickboxing, as well as going to the gym and focusing on myself,” she said. “Probably around the time I started kickboxing in 2017 I decided it was time to accept who I am and be proud of myself.” After the come-and-try day in Bunbury in 2019, Mason skyrocketed through the Para Football ranks to the national side. The Bunbury soccer has a great love for her team which she described as “family”, and she said meeting them had given her purpose. “I feel like I have a purpose in life after meeting these amazing people and being part of something that is so great for our community as well as the whole of Australia,” Mason said. “Coming to the CP National Team in 2019 I met my family, that is what I see them as, so it turned out for the best. “I feel included now, I feel like I am welcome, well received and part of something. “Now I have these great people around me like my family and friends. “We are all going through this together, we all have different journeys but we have the same destination, and that is Spain. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”