PrintAustralian Broadcasting CorporationBroadcast: 08/06/2011Reporter: Peter WilkinsThis month, 20-year old Ellyse Perry will become the first Australian to play in the World Cup for two different sports. She spoke with the ABC's Peter Wilkins about her unique achievement.
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Most sports people dream of playing in one world cup in their chosen sport, but 20-year-old Ellyse Perry's about to achieve the unique distinction of playing in two world cups in two different sports. At 16, she was the youngest-ever cricketer, man or woman, to play for Australia, and now she's part of the 21-member Matildas soccer squad named today. Here's Peter Wilkins.PETER WILKINS, REPORTER: Quintessential all-rounder Ellyse Perry juggles a university education with the demands of playing two sports at the elite level.
ELLYSE PERRY, ATHLETE: It's been the way for me to play cricket and soccer, and I started playing at the same age.
PETER WILKINS: She's also grappling with the tentacles of the entertainment industry.
RICHARD MCINNES, AUST. WOMEN'S CRICKET COACH: The thing with Elyse is she has an unbelievable worth ethic. She has the understanding of what it takes to be successful that is usually matched with someone in their late 20s, early 30s that are starting to hit the peak of their powers.
PETER WILKINS: Ellyse Perry became the youngest male or female to represent Australia at cricket. She was just 16.
Football internationals followed soon after.
Mum Kathy and coaching dad Mark - who prefer to stay in the background - nurtured their daughter's interests without a hint of pressure.
ELLYSE PERRY: My parents have been so supportive and I had a dad who was pretty much my own personal coach from the day dot because he loved sport and he's got a incredible knowledge of it.
PETER WILKINS: The Perry work ethic has allowed Ellyse to continue in both sports with lofty ambitions.
ELLYSE PERRY: For me it sort of always been about hopefully being someone that sticks around for a long time, and I guess in a way makes a bit of an impact or a mark on the sport and not just be someone that was there for a coupla years and then dropped off or moved on.
PETER WILKINS: To that end, there are willing allies in cricket and football administration.
RICHARD MCINNES: They're both better off if she's playing 80 per cent of either of our sports rather than 100 per cent of one and none of the other.
PETER WILKINS: As a cricketer, Ellyse Perry is near the top. She's played with the men and starred in Australia's World Cup 2020 win over New Zealand.
RICHARD MCINNES: Looking at her technique - there's no such thing as a perfect bowling technique, but her's is as close to perfect I've seen, I think, in either male or female.
PETER WILKINS: With more opportunities, the 20-year-old's batting could blossom.
RICHARD MCINNES: Long term she'll probably bat in the top order somewhere, maybe four or five.
PETER WILKINS: But the current focus is football and in a history-making achievement, Perry will be the first Australian to represent at senior world cups in both cricket and football.
TOM SERMANNI, MATILDAS COACH: For someone to achieve two world cups at the elite level in two sports is just a wonderful achievement.
ELLYSE PERRY: Maybe it hasn't quite sunk in.
PETER WILKINS: Modest to the core, the achievement is downplayed.
ELLYSE PERRY: I don't see it as being anything that special compared to the achievements of some our our most fantastic athletes.
PETER WILKINS: To date, this free-running fullback who scored a pile driver in the 2008 Asian Cup, has played 13 times for the Matildas, but she missed last year's Asian Cup win when cricket called. The boots on the other foot this time with football taking precedence. But he jury's out on whether Ellyse Perry is compromising her quest to have a lasting impact in both sports by not specialising in one.
TOM SERMANNI: She still always managed to touch - keep touch with the other sport. So she hasn't completely given up football for that period of time or given up cricket for a particular period of time. So I don't know if, you know, as I say, if she shunned one aside it would make her better at the other.
ELLYSE PERRY: If I was to not play one, I think I'd feel really lost just playing the other.
PETER WILKINS: Come on, when you wake up in the middle of the night, what is it? Is it football, cricket?
ELLYSE PERRY: I feel terrible because I just perennially sit on the fence and I just don't have a favourite and I think I might not enjoy it as much if I was just playing one sport and purely concentrating on that.
PETER WILKINS: After a landmark 2007 World Cup for the Matildas when they made the quarter-finals, the 21-strong squad heads to Germany with controlled expectation.
TOM SERMANNI: I think we're closer to the prize in essence that we've got our systems in place a lot better than we did going into the last World Cup. Therefore the talent pool coming through is better.
PETER WILKINS: Part of that pool is precociously talented 16-year-old Wollongong schoolgirl Caitlin Foord who might learn a trick or two from the virtual wolf in sheep's clothing in Ellyse Perry, the ultra-competitor.
TOM SERMANNI: She does it with that angelic smile, right enough, which can lull you into a false sense of security.
RICHARD MCINNES: I think she's a great advertisement for girls around the country that play multiple sports to say, "Well hang on: I can actually continue to do that to the highest level." They don't have to make a choice.
ELLYSE PERRY: Yeah, don't be afraid to have a go at anything, and especially I guess, speaking from a girl's perspective, just because the boys are playing doesn't mean you can't play.
Not only the physical, but the mental and the social benefits that I've received from sport I think can be offered to anyone, and particularly young girls, and, yeah, it's a really fantastic thing. So I'd love to see more girls being involved in sport and enjoying it.
LEIGH SALES: Wow! What an amazing girl! Peter Wilkins reporting.
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