Ell of a journey: From country kid to Matildas star living the dream at Lyon

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When Ellie Carpenter was about eight, she tried racing motorbikes. Her parents took her to lessons on a PeeWee 50. But, being a PeeWee 50, it did not satisfy her need for speed.

“She was tiny, and she’d have it full throttle,” recalls her mum, Belinda. “But she’d come off the bike and say, ‘That bike’s crap, it doesn’t go fast enough’.

“She was cranky because she couldn’t keep up with some of the other bigger kids, annoyed with us. She wanted an 80 [more powerful bike] and we’re like, ‘No, we’re not having that’. So we stopped that.”

It was one of the many, many extracurricular activities a young Carpenter tried before eventually choosing football. There was diving, triathlon, swimming, cricket, touch football, Aussie rules, trapeze, dance, drama … and, of course, the round-ball game.

But the biggest hit back then was athletics. As we know now, having observed the fullback tearing up and down the right flank for the Matildas, she is naturally quick. And soon the Tiny Tots program in Cowra turned into regional competitions.

Of course, the majority of these activities were not catered for in a rural NSW town, which meant a four-hour drive to Sydney and surrounding areas was often required.

Ellie Carpenter is only 23 but has already played in a Champions League final.Credit: Getty

“But we used to have so much fun driving,” Belinda says of the trips with Ellie and her older brother Jeremy. “I just remember one thing: we wouldn’t let them have a device in the car, so no Game Boy.

“I would say, ‘We’ll do a quiz, we’ll look out the window’. We also did spelling bees in the car. They were into writing and spelling, and both of them would compete in spelling bees.”

Jeremy once made the state final, which meant a trip to the ABC studios in Sydney. At the time, it was a huge deal for a small-town family, and Jeremy correctly spelt “righteous” – even though he didn’t know what it meant.

“Ellie left school in year 10,” Belinda says. “But she can spell well.”

A young Ellie Carpenter with brother Jeremy and professional sprinter Melinda Gainsford-Taylor.

When Carpenter was 12, Belinda quit her job and moved with the children to Sydney, where her sporting talents could be better fostered at Westfield Sports High School.

“We definitely struggled when we moved from such a small place,” she says. “We loved living in the country. I still miss it. I’m not a city girl by any means, but it was just adapting and leaving behind that part when we had to because we just didn’t have the opportunities – the competitions and the coaching.

“We made the decision to move. We just thought we’d give it a go, really – that’s just how we live our life. We’ve always been spontaneous I guess – people call it crazy.”

Ellie Carpenter suffered an ACL injury eight months ago.Credit: Getty

Both kids have moved a long way from home since then. Jeremy went to school in Japan and has played football there, and also in Portugal and Germany.

His sister has, for the past three years, been living in France plying her trade with Lyon. Playing Champions League finals and winning Division 1 Feminine titles. Her more recent story has been about a long rehab for a ruptured ACL, suffered in last year’s Champions League final, and her return in time for a home World Cup.

The primary challenge for Belinda has been learning how to help her daughter from afar, when she is still only 23 but very much an adult living a world away.

“That was hard, but she wanted to cope on her own a lot,” Belinda says. “She didn’t want us to fly over. She was very adamant that she wanted to get through that with as minimal fuss as possible. We thought it was a massive deal, and she was more pragmatic about it than I expected. She may have been, but she coped by herself with that.

“I think it’s knowing when she needs it [help] and when she needs to do it herself; letting them make mistakes as young adults. You’ve got to let them live, even though it’s an unusual situation.”

Ellie Carpenter playing junior soccer.

Carpenter did quietly return home at the start of the year – with the blessing of her club – to spend a month with Australia sports science and medical staff. Physically, she was already close to returning to competitive football, but mentally she needed to regain confidence less than six months before the start of the World Cup.

But her life now is predominantly in France, and her family’s adaptability and resilience have informed her approach to every challenge thrown her way.

Her spelling skills, too, have undoubtedly come in handy for the intensive French lessons she says have made her fluent. But there are also moments the country girl seeps through the now-glamorous exterior. Like in Disney’s Matildas: The World at Our Feet documentary series, when a doctor is examining the wounds from her knee surgery and she lets out a “this one’s a bit how ya goin”.

Talking to Carpenter’s mum is very much like talking to Carpenter (“poor Ell, yeah she’s a bit out there”). The long-time PE teacher is based at Terrigal High School as a student support officer, and this morning she is cheerfully beeping her car horn at girls on her way to work.

Recently, she was in a cafe and ran into Carpenter’s former Lyon teammate and fellow defender Alex Greenwood, who is in camp with England on the Central Coast. Greenwood took a selfie of the pair and sent it to Ellie, eliciting a satisfyingly shocked reaction.

She admits she is still a bit naive when it comes to professional football set-ups, but is travelling to watch all of Australia’s games and has been soaking up others, too. That includes Haiti’s 19-year-old Melchie Dumornay, who has also just signed with Lyon.

“She was amazing, she was beautiful to watch,” Belinda says. “And I think that’s the thing: we’ve learnt to appreciate other players from whatever country. It doesn’t matter, you just like watching them, you know?”

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