Elgin High School pupil Zara Ramage (14) sees dream come true after the new Inverness Caledonian Thistle footballer is selected for Scotland international girls team to play England at St George’s Park
Playing for Scotland against England will fulfil a footballing dream for schoolgirl talent Zara Ramage.
The 14-year-old Elgin High pupil, a recent capture for Inverness Caley Thistle’s women’s squad, has been selected for Scotland’s under-15 girls team taking on the ‘Auld Enemy’ at England’s national football centre, St George’s Park on Sunday.
“It’s always been one of my goals to play for Scotland one day, but I was quite shocked when I found out I had been selected - happy shocked,” she said.
Zara followed her twin brother Cole into football at the age of six, starred for her school team and came through the ranks of Moray Girls football team where she was the youngest member.
She became one of the first females to play in the long-standing Elgin Boys’ Club, where she won a player of the year award and helped her team to a league title.
Zara was also picked up by Highland League club Forres Mechanics’ youth development and became the first girl to play in any of their boys’ teams when she joined the Mosset Park club’s under-14s and played against her twin brother, who plays for Elgin City.
The centre back’s talents were soon noticed by a new talent centre in Aberdeen representing the north of Scotland, where she was coached by Caley Thistle manager Karen Mason, who persuaded her to sign for the Inverness club.
However, Zara can’t play senior football until after she turns 15 in April, and her next game is set to be Sunday’s challenge match between Scotland and England - the biggest match of her life.
This week she travelled down to Livingston with her mum Margaret where she met with the rest of the squad, before heading to Scotland’s training base at Oriam in Edinburgh.
They will travel to Derby on Saturday, close to Burton-on-Trent where St George’s Park is situated.
Scotland’s squad includes players who have been signed up by Liverpool, Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen and Hibernian, but she is hopeful of getting some game time to make her international football debut.
“We've only got a squad of 17 and I’m one of three centre-backs picked, so I imagine I'll get game time,” she said.
Zara’s footballing heroes are Cristiano Ronaldo - “For his hard work, he always pushes to be better,” and fellow central defender Virgil Van Dijk of English Premier League leaders Liverpool.
But she has another sporting role model - her twin Cole.
“I always looked up to my brother as well. Playing football, he was always better than me so I always pushed to be better.
“I always wanted to be better than him.”
Zara speaks highly of the Moray Girls’ club who laid the foundations for her blossoming career.
“I joined aged eight and it was an under-13 team so I never got much game time at first. I would maybe get five minutes, because I was five years younger than the rest.
“But I think it helped me develop a lot and you make a lot of good friends. Their coaches are good and I think they help you like football more and more - that grows.”
Zara has also been given a six-week trial with top-tier Scottish women’s side Aberdeen, so the future looks bright for her.
But she recalled her three years at Elgin Boys’ Club and her season at Forres, and admitted she loved playing against her male counterparts.
“I think playing against the boys is a good challenge. It pushes you, especially when you're younger.
“It gets you used to the physical aspects of football.So that helps a lot.
“But playing the girls, I'd say the friendships are closer.”
Zara also does football coaching as part of her Duke of Edinburgh Award youth programme, which she is doing alongside Elgin Sports Community Trust director of operations Robbie Hope at the Gleaner Arena.
“ I'm doing three months with the girls, aged 8 to 12 so I’m just getting different experiences. “Robbie is trying to inspire the girls, encourage them to show confidence.You hear some say in training when they are playing with boys, they will say ‘not all the boys were passing to me’ or ‘the boys are so much better than me.
“But it's just trying to build their confidence as well.
“I’m just helping out but I’m trying to inspire them, and be a role model for them.”
Zara will certainly became an ambassador for female sportswomen across Moray when she wears her country’s colours on Sunday and troops out to play England on the big stage.
Football also connected Zara with Milne’s High pupil Alex Whelan who is now a Caley Thistle team-mate and was selected to play for Scotland’s under-16 girls squad.
“You could say football has brought me my best friend as well,” she added. “Alex and I were two of the first girls to play at Elgin Boys and now we will be team-mates at Caley.”