![The ParaMatildas are less than a month away from their first World Cup in Spain. Picture: Football Australia The ParaMatildas are less than a month away from their first World Cup in Spain. Picture: Football Australia](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5E9aiwEpmxaHU7wKAB7bK/5223765e-2959-4c21-9a25-54ad20ea72da.jpg/r0_71_4584_3056_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
As the Australian anthem sounded around Canberra Stadium, Kelly Stirton turned to her ParaMatildas squad to soak in the gravity of the moment.
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"This is what you're going to be doing. Standing side by side with your teammates singing the national anthem," the coach told them.
"One day this will be us, we will be playing at [Canberra] Stadium with this crowd."
The ParaMatildas were there to watch the Matildas take on the Football Ferns, but it gave them an insight into what they will experience next month in Spain at the first IFCPF Women's World Cup.
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Stirton described the moment last week as surreal and emotional as players soaked in the anthem, the atmosphere and watched their Matildas heroes take to the field.
"Now they can be heroes for younger athletes as well. Not just athletes with a disability but able-bodied athletes as well," she said.
"Listening to the girls' stories, they are the things that I look back on and go, 'I wish my kids could see these people'. My son was thankfully there on the night when some of the girls gave a speech. He's an able-bodied athlete, but he was inspired by these girls and their stories."
Win, lose or draw next month they stand by their Undefeated motto but there is one thing they need to get them to the Cup in Spain - Australia's support.
The Undefeated Giving Day runs for 24 hours from 5pm, April 20 for both the ParaMatildas and the Pararoos.
The funds raised will be used to help send both teams to their World Cups, and host future training camps and international matches. So far, almost half of the $230,000 goal has been raised.
The women play a five-a-side competition, as the sport is in its infancy on the world stage, but Stirton said it would likely become seven-a-side if it continued to grow.
And the World Cup was the first step to increasing the game's profile.
"It's much of an unknown being the first Women's World Cup," the coach said.
"There's a lot of teams out there like us who have just formed, so there's no footage out there. We've searched and searched but we're going in blind, which in some ways is a good thing. What you don't know can't hurt you, right?
"We have the Netherlands first, I can't say who's going to be the top team, but we're going in with high hopes. I'm super confident in these girls."
The Australians will face the Netherlands first, and then take on the United States, Japan and hosts Spain during the May 8-18 tournament.
When the side was formed earlier this year, Stirton said she wanted them to be the country's most successful soccer team.
Following their first training camp ahead of the World Cup, she stands by it.
But she has a hard decision ahead of her, having to pick only 10 players to board the plane next month.
"It was really good to see the girls together because it seemed like they'd known each other for years," she said.
"They were looking really sharp.
"They're inseparable. They're always always together as a team and we made sure at the start that no one got left behind."
Undefeated Giving Day 2022
ParaMatildas and Pararoos join forces for donation drive:
- April 20, 5pm for 24 hours
- Funds will help both teams to head to their World Cups
- Donations will also support training camps and future tournaments
- Donate here
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