If you have been following sport in Yass for any length of time, chances are you know who Victoria Alley is.
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For those who don't, Alley is a resident who has taken part in almost every sport in which it is possible to compete: rugby league, touch football, soccer, netball, cross country, athletics, and cricket, to name a few, and has won most of the awards that go with them.
And she can now add Yass's Local Sportsperson of the Year to her ever-growing list of accolades.
"I wasn't expecting [to win Sportsperson of the Year] actually, it was a nice surprise," Alley said.
Announced recently by the Yass Valley Council, Alley was nominated for soccer, rugby league, and touch football.
In a statement, the council highlighted Alley's goal-scoring exploits in 2018, where she finished as the highest female scorer for the Yass Football Club, and the second-highest overall in the women's Capital Football competition.
Similarly, she was also recognised for the role she played in the Yass Magpies' run to the Katrina Fanning Shield grand final last year. Alley then became the first female to win the club's Rookie of the Year award.
"It felt really nice to get that recognition [from the Magpies], also a surprise," Alley said.
Alley was nominated for the Junior Sportsperson of the Year award in 2017, but lost out to Darcey Bush.
Following that honour, Alley was also recognised in the Yass Valley Council's 2018 Australia Day ceremony, where she took home the Young Citizen of the Year award.
At the presentation, YVC mayor Rowena Abbey said Alley was "personable, mature, diligent, and courteous."
For someone so new to the sport of rugby league, Alley has acclimated incredibly well. She credited her quick adaptation to league to her prior experience playing touch football.
"It's not too bad, I've always played touch footy so I've always had ball skills," she said.
"It's probably a little bit harder to get into tackling, having played soccer before going into league, that's the only thing."
At the age of 19, Alley still has most of her sporting career still to come. With her temperament and natural aptitude, expect her to go a very long way.
