IT'S not often you wear one team's uniform and then swap colours at half-time.
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But that was the scenario facing talented soccer player Molly Leslie on Saturday.
The Warrnambool-based teenager lined up for South West Victoria Football Association in the opening half of a friendly against North Geelong.
She then played for North Geelong - a National Premier League youth team she joined earlier this season - after the break.
"It was nerve-racking coming down because I didn't want to side with one of them so I let the coaches decide what was happening with me," Leslie said.
"They said they were going to flip a coin and then half and half was what they ended up with."
Leslie, 15, travels to Geelong for training and games twice a week.
The left-back, who moved to Victoria from Tasmania two years ago, said it was a balancing act but she was relishing the chance to test her game at a higher level.
"It is a juggle with school but mum is really good and I do homework in the car," she said.
"They train twice a week and play Sunday but the coach said I could just make one (training) a week.
"North Geelong has been playing together for a really long time.
"Their team has been together since under sixes and I came in as a newbie but they've picked me up really well and they were really friendly."
The Emmanuel College student trains with South West Victoria Football Association's under 16 girls' side too.
Coronavirus restrictions over the past two years had limited the Paul Braithwaite-coached team to practice.
This year's country championships were cancelled with the 2022 edition the team's main focus.
Saturday's friendly at Warrnambool's Harris Street Reserve was its first 11-a-side contest.
Numbers on the bench gave it a chance to rotate players and give everyone on the roster game time.
"This group of girls are probably the friendliest to be around," Leslie said of the South West team.
"We all really get along and pick each other up at the end of the game.
"They are one of my favourite groups to be around.
"Two years we've been training together but we've never played a full 11-a-side game.
"Today is really our first game together."
Leslie grew up in George Town on Tasmania's north coast and returns to the Apple Isle during school holidays.
It's where her love for soccer emerged.
"My sister (Shae) started playing first and I went to the fields and started kicking around with her and I just fell in love with it," she said.
"It's my passion, it makes me so happy with the atmosphere that it brings."
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