"I broke my big toe playing in defence so the boys chucked me in the goal and I've never looked back."
This "silver lining" moment happened to Rotorua's Amanda Wilshier when she was 6 years old and the only girl in her Bethlehem College, Tauranga side.
Kick forward 17 years later and Wilshier recently found herself between the posts for the most pressurised situation of her footballing career - goalkeeping in a penalty shootout during the 2016 National Women's League pre-final.
Unfortunately for Wilshier and her team they were beaten 4-2 by Capital Football in a "heartbreaking match" with Capital making it 2-all in the fifth minute of added time before extra time and then penalties.
"It was an agonising way to lose," said Wilshier. "Penalties are just not a good way to finish a game because it doesn't define who was the better team.
"I'm okay thinking about it now, but at the time it was a different story. We were very unlucky in that game - but we did concede a terrible goal late on to set up the penalties. It just goes to show you have to play right up to the last kick of the game."
Despite the loss Wilshier, who started five of the seven games for the regional team, said it had been her most successful season with the side.
The experienced goalkeeper's highlight was her side's 3-2 win over defending champions Northern Football, with two late goals helping seal her team's pre-final place.
"We improved as the season progressed - that's something you always want to achieve," Wilshier said. "Overall I'm chuffed. I mean we were originally just happy to get that close to the final but then to come so close was heartbreaking.
"Beating the defending champions was the best. We just kept surprising ourselves in the game - they were shutting us down the entire game but then to come out on top was incredible."
Wilshier first kicked a ball aged 5 after being encouraged into the game by sport enthusiast dad Warwick.
"There was just something about football that grabbed me straight away," she said. "I couldn't have done it without him [Warwick] - he was my soccer dad carting me to every game and training."
But it was only when she moved to the area at 14 and joined the Rotorua United women's first team that her goalkeeping skills excelled rapidly.
Wilshier, mainly mentored by men's first team goalkeeper Andrew Gibbs, was quickly selected to represent the Bay of Plenty under-14 side, followed by the under-16 team and then the women's WaiBOP side the next year.
Last season Wilshier played every game in Rotorua United's 2016 WaiBOP Premier League Division 1 winning side - the inaugural Bay of Plenty and Waikato title.
United, coached by Ron Cane, won 14 of their 17 games and scored 72 goals whilst conceding just 15 - the best attacking and defensive records in the league - but were beaten in the Lotto NRFL playoff series against Northland Football Club for the Northern League premier women's competition.
"I'm so glad the new league was created with more teams involved. It lifted the standard - every game was a real challenge," she said.
"Hopefully next season we can go one better. We could definitely make that step up into the premier but need to make sure we retain players and each individual has that drive."
The passionate goalkeeper said more needed to be done to develop women's football in New Zealand - which she hoped her daughter Myanna, 4, would benefit from.
"Their needs to be clearer pathways for young talent to do well. I certainly want my daughter to take part in the sport - I'll be her cheerleader from the side. And hopefully she'll be playing in a generation when a career as a women's professional footballer is becoming more accessible."