The face Susan Phonsongkham sees every time she scores a goal is that of her mother Narumol.
When the 18-year-old Young Matildas player switches sides for half-time, her mother Narumol also changes positions and starts cheerleading from the other side of the field.
“I feel very blessed to have my mum,” Phonsongkham tells SBS Life.
“She’s a superwoman. She’s very proud of me and she will support me in anything and everything I do.”
But the mother-daughter duo's journey to the national stage has not been without challenges. They arrived in Australia from Thailand as migrants in 2012 with little English. Narumol fell in love and married an Australian man in Thailand and the pair travelled to join him, settling in the western Sydney suburb of Mt Druitt. But the dream of a new life in Australia turned into a nightmare, with Narumol suffering physical and emotional abuse at the hands of the man she had left Thailand for.
Phonsongkham was 13 when she arrived in Australia. She found her childhood love of soccer wilting under the pressure of her home environment and abandoned the sport.
“[As soon as] I started walking, my mum just gave me a ball and said go out there and have fun and don’t come in and play barbies,” she said.
“[My stepdad] was not very supportive of me, and because of that I stopped playing soccer.”
Narumol fled the marriage with the help of a women’s group who placed Susan with a local soccer club where her talent and love for the game bloomed again.
“They helped us along the way to get our confidence back. That’s when I started playing again,” says Susan.
The teen then shifted schools to Burwood Girls High and began playing for the area club where she scored an astonishing 52 goals in a season. She was eventually spotted by Westfields Sports High School coach Leah Blayney and recruited to the school.
Susan Phonsongkham controls the ball in a Young Matildas match against Thailand. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac
“I was so excited to be playing, I just let loose and went for it.”
Susan dreams of one day playing for the Matildas, and admits it’s been a “crazy journey” for her and her mum. She says keeping her mind on the present moment has helped her overcome obstacles to pursue her passion for soccer.
“My focus is always on the right now. My goal is to improve myself in every way at every training,” she says.
“My advice is do what you love and talk to your parents if you’re not feeling confident or going through tough times like I did. If your parents don’t support the dream you have, just keep it to yourself, have a mindset you want to achieve that goal and just go for it and work hard."
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