Back to School With Kyah Simon

The Matildas champ tells us how she went from Under 9s soccer to the World Cup.

This post is presented in partnership with Monash Business School.

Student Edge's webseries Back to School With invites Australia's most interesting and successful people to share stories from their school days. In each ep, they let us know how they landed their dream careers, as well as how they faced all those inevitable obstacles of teenagerdom along the way.

Over six seasons, we've interviewed Jimmy Barnes, Amy Shark, Julie Bishop, Saroo Brierley, Samantha Jade, Dr. Karl, Daniel Ricciardo, Rachel Perkins, Ita Buttrose, Tom Ballard, Layne Beachley, John Marsden and many, many other fascinating peeps.

But a new term brings a new season and even more incredible Aussie stories.

In the fifth episode of Season Seven, we chat with the Matildas' star striker, Kyah Simon. She told us how she knew she wanted to play for Australia at the age of eight, as well as how she coped with a nearly career-ending injury at 15.

"I think the outside noise of the negativity, and people saying that I would never come back really motivated me and drove me to prove those people wrong. A lot of people would comment, saying, 'Kyah's washed up. She'll never play for Australia.' Things like that. And hearing that as a 15-year-old, I think that challenges you within itself, not to mention the physical setback of having the injury initially. I think that's really what kept me determined and focused to want to come back bigger and stronger; to pursue the dream I'd set those seven or eight years ago."

Check out our chat.

Stay tuned: We'll be dropping new episodes each Tuesday. Join us as we venture back in time with another Aussie legend every week!

Catch up on previous seasons below:

Season One

Season Two

Season Three

Season Four

Season Five

Season Six

You can find our Season Seven archive below:

Season Seven

Brought to you by Monash Business School. Choose from over 90 courses to shape your future business career.

Photo: Student Edge