Under-20 trio set to graduate year 12

By HENRY MORABANG
ACHIEVING honours in life is something to be proud of.
For Papua New Guinea Under-20 women’s soccer players Martha Karl, Lace Kunei and Joy Tsuga, they have represented their country in football and next week will be another milestone for the trio as they graduate from Goroka Grammar School.
The women enrolled as Grade 12 students at the school in the Eastern Highlands capital earlier this year after being named in coach Lisa Cole’s side.  Tsuga (left), Karl (centre) and Kunei (right) will walk out with their heads held high next Wednesday after completing their Grade 12 national examination this week.
Cole confirmed the trio sat for their exams at Goroka Grammar, completing one of the challenges they had while in camp at the National Sports Institute.
The women are expected to play leading roles as hosts PNG look to make a splash at next month’s Fifa U20 Women’s World Cup in Port Moresby from Nov 13-Dec 3.
Goroka Grammar School director of education Paddy Kelly said the women had done well juggling their team training, matches and tours as well as their school work during the year.
“I don’t think it can be overstated just what an achievement it is for these young women to be in the final stages of two major events in their lives,” Kelly said.
“Their school work placed huge demands on them in terms of fulltime attendance at school, sitting for tests, revising for exams and studying after training and in the evenings.”
Kelly said for many students, this alone would be a highly-stressful time.
However these women have also been training fulltime to be ready to represent PNG at the World Cup. The women will graduate on Wednesday and as it was a unique achievement for them, Kelly said it was a great story, not only for football in PNG, but for promoting women’s development through sports and education.