This Saturday, 11 July 2026, something wonderful happens on the pitches of the Leschenault Recreation Grounds in Australind, Western Australia. Hundreds of girls will pull on their boots, run out onto the grass, and spend a whole day doing the thing that matters most: playing.

It is the Australind Girls' Soccer Carnival, hosted by the Australind Junior Soccer Club, and now in its ninth year. And this year, Hero Athletica will be there, marquee up, music pumping, with two brand new ranges launching on the day. We could not be more excited.

A Carnival Built for Girls, and Only Girls

There are plenty of junior sport events in Australia. There are far fewer that are built entirely around girls. The Australind Girls' Soccer Carnival is one of them, and that is exactly why we love it.

Run by the volunteers of the Australind Junior Soccer Club, the carnival welcomes girls aged 8 to 16 for a full day of round-robin football at the Leschenault Recreation Grounds on Peter Anderson Drive.^[2] It is deliberately pitched as fun, friendly competition: a club-level event, not an academy showcase, where the emphasis sits firmly on participation, mateship and the sheer joy of the game.^[2]

And it draws a crowd. In 2021, almost 500 young players travelled from Perth and across the South West to take part in what was then the club's biggest girls' carnival to date.^[1] Nine years in, this little carnival in Australind has become one of the standout days on the WA girls' football calendar: a whole community turning up, weekend after year after weekend, to say to its daughters, this game is yours too.

Why a Day Like This Matters So Much

Here is the uncomfortable truth that sits behind every girls' sport event in this country: the peak age at which Australian girls drop out of sport is just 15.^[3] AusPlay data indicates that roughly one third of females have stopped participating in club sport by that age.^[4]

The reasons are heartbreakingly ordinary. In national research by Visa and Year13, nearly half of the girls who stopped said they needed more time to study. Almost a third pointed to body image. And 60 per cent of Australian girls said they did not have a female sports star they looked up to.^[3]

Researchers who have tracked women's and girls' sport participation over many years, including Professor Rochelle Eime and colleagues, have been clear about the answer: sport needs deliberate strategies to retain girls and young women through adolescence, because once they leave, most do not come back.^[5]

That is what makes a day like Saturday so much bigger than a fixture list. A carnival built only for girls, where every single player on every single pitch is a girl, quietly rewrites the story. It tells an 8-year-old that she belongs here. It tells a 14-year-old, standing right at the edge of the dropout cliff, that there are hundreds of girls just like her who are staying. It gives her teammates, role models, and a reason to lace up again next season.

Hero Athletica exists for exactly this reason. So when the Australind Junior Soccer Club opens its gates for the ninth year, of course we are going to be there.

What We're Bringing to Australind

Come and find the Hero Athletica marquee. We will have our full current range with us to see, touch and try, and our founders' famous enthusiasm for talking all things girls' sport. But this year we are bringing something more: two brand new launches, making their debut on the day.

To the Girls Playing on Saturday

Whether you win every game or lose the lot, whether you score the goal of the day or spend the afternoon cheering from the sideline, you are doing the most important thing a girl in sport can do. You are showing up. You are playing. You are staying.

And to the parents, coaches, volunteers and the whole Australind Junior Soccer Club community who make this carnival happen year after year: thank you. Nine years of building a day where girls come first is nine years of girls who kept playing because of it.

We will see you at the marquee. Come and say hi, checkgirls sport out the new ranges, grab an interview at the Inspirational Corner, and enter the giveaway. Saturday is going to be a cracker.