Former South Melbourne and NTC player Kitty Masters is living the dream in the United Kingdom, having made the move to Brighton & Hove Albion Women to play in the FA WSL Academy League.
The young midfielder announced she had signed with the English side in November 2022; however, she told Football Victoria her future was far from certain when she packed her bags for the other side of the world.
“The move at first was a bit stressful because we moved over here when I was still on trial with Brighton, so I hadn’t even got in,” Kitty explained.
“We left home and I had no idea when I might have been coming back, it could have been a month or a year but in the end, I did manage to get in, and since then we have gotten a house and have just been adjusting to life here in the UK.”
Kitty said it was “a little hard” at the start to adjust to her new life, however, she has settled in and is thriving in the new environment.
“I was in the middle of the NPL season and then I come over here and it's pre-season, so I was playing games one week, and then it was fitness, fitness, fitness,” she said.
“We have training almost every day, usually in the evenings because the girls here have school, of course, and then some days especially when it is school holidays, we are in most days of the week for five to six hours a day.
“We would train, spend time in the gym, workshops and all that, there is so much contact time with the players, and I think that is really good.
“When I moved over here, I moved into an online school, because again I moved here not knowing if I would actually be playing here,” she said.
“The beauty of being in an online school is I can do it whenever, so it is quite flexible in that sense.”
Kitty’s road to Brighton started at age three when she first started playing at Futsal Oz in Brunswick.
“Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a professional footballer, but my parents actually had a rule, they didn’t want to take me to away games for outdoor, so they said I wasn’t allowed to play outdoor until I was 10 years old, so I had to play futsal,” she remembered.
“I am actually glad that was the way it happened because your skills develop so much quicker in futsal and I always wanted to be a footballer, not so much a futsal player.
“I started playing for an outdoor club when I was 10 and then started playing in the NPL when I was 12.
I was developing through that and then I got selected to the NTC and I was there from 2019 until mid-last year in July when I got into Brighton.”
While playing at South Melbourne, Kitty said through head coach John Sugunananthan she was able to find her flair.
“He was amazing, he had a very unique style of coaching,” she said.
“He really encouraged everyone to use their creativity, that Brazilian style, and that brought me out of my shell at that time, because I was quite a closed-off, pass-the-ball-off, simple stuff kind of player. He helped me become my own player.
“NTC was also really good for me because it is a lot more like a professional environment.
"They treat you like an athlete, it’s like you make that jump and you’re not a kid anymore.
“You have got to make something of yourself at that point and especially playing against older players, which is what we did, that also helps you mature a lot with your football, and the amount of training that we did was really good as well.”
Football Victoria (FV) Talent Development Girls Manager Annick Fokchak was delighted Kitty was able to forge her own path to elite football.
“Congratulations to Kitty, the pathway is open for everyone, and she has made her way from NPL to NTC and now to Brighton,” she said.
“She has shown there is not just one way to achieve playing at the highest level.
“Best of luck from all of us at the FV Technical Department.”
While being a part of the FV system may have helped prepare her for her footballing journey, nothing quite compared to the professionalism she encountered when joining Brighton.
“It is amazing honestly, the standard is so high,” she exclaimed.
“Seeing the way that it translates into senior football, it really reflects the youth system here and the standards and the general commitment from the players here, it has surprised me a lot.”
Having proved there is a way to make it to Europe from the Victorian NPL youth system, Masters was hopeful other players would follow in her footsteps in years to come.
“I think this is what a lot of Aussies want, to be able to come here and be in such a high-level environment,” she said.
“I have to mention that what has helped get me here is that my dad was born in England, so I have citizenship, so it was a lot easier for me to come over here at the age I am now.
“To reach this stage in my footballing journey, it has been good for me to have a lot of coaches and football people who have been able to support me and put in a good word for me as well, that has been really important.
“If I were to give advice on that part, I would say make sure you are listening to your coaches and respecting them a lot.
“I have seen players who are really talented, but they don’t respect their coaches enough and you see how it affects them because they are not really getting everything out of it, and eventually it doesn’t work out for them in that environment.”
Despite already appearing for the seagulls in the FA WSL Academy League, the Academy League Plate and County Cup competitions, Kitty still has much to achieve on the football pitch.
“Short term of course I would want to improve myself from where I am right now, playing and to get ahead,” she said.
“Long term I am looking at senior football and national team representation because I haven’t had the opportunity to do that yet.
“I am definitely working towards that, and I think that Brighton is going to help me get to a standard where when I play senior football, I will be ready for it.”
Kitty's journey to the FA WSL Academy League started in Futsal and at South Melbourne's junior program; whether you're looking to follow her footsteps and play competitively, or just trying to enjoy some social football head to www.playfootball.com.au to find a program that suits you!
Picture: BHAFC/Paul Hazlewood.