A flurry of passes sees the ball make the journey down the length of the right flank. A neat little ball across the face of goals finds its target and with aplomb Jasmina Pedic powers home her third of the night past the hapless keeper.
The scene of the crime however wasn’t Wembley Park, the ground at which the forward netted her last WPL hat-trick in Round One of the 2014 season. Nor was it her senior debut for Box Hill United in 2008, where she grabbed a memorable treble as an 18-year-old.
Instead it was the more modest setting of her local indoor centre, where she eventually went on to hammer five unanswered goals past yours truly in a game of mixed futsal. It was a gentle way of re-introducing herself to the sport that she’d loved after the former Box Hill and Ashburton striker took a season long sabbatical in 2014 due to work commitments.
“The standard is… quite different,” Pedic said with a laugh.
“With Eastern Indoor Sports Centre, it’s quite a bit of fun. Playing with the boys in mixed is always an enjoyable challenge.”
It’s been a busy 16 months since Pedic’s last professional game, which has seen her zip across the Gulf and all around the world working with airline Emirates, before eventually finding home at AAMI Park working with the sport’s elite.
You however get the feeling that the challenge of NPLW football is something that drives the hard-working Pedic a lot more than a social five-a-side with her friends. She looks to be getting her chance at doing so in 2016, with a return to the Victorian top-flight on the cards.
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“It was quite a good start to the season, a hat-trick in front of a home crowd on a Friday night,” Pedic said, reflecting on the beginning of her 2014 season.
She had just put in a match-winning performance against her former side Ashburton SC, which she soon followed up with a brace against Sandringham SC in Round Seven. She sat on a strong return of seven goals heading into the final month of the year before injury de-railed her season.
However, the timing of the ailment couldn’t have been any more perfect for the paramedic graduate who had been weighing up a life-changing opportunity to work overseas.
“I did tear my groin close to the end of the 2014 season, and it really did bring me down a bit,” told Pedic.
“I couldn’t walk for the first few weeks really and I decided to give soccer a miss for the rest of the season.
“But in the last four weeks of the season, I got an offer to work for Emirates in Dubai as a medical flight attendant. I was injured at the time as it was, so I thought it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss out on.
“I thought I’d definitely take it, so I moved at the end of the year in October.”
The move to Dubai was Pedic’s first time living overseas on her own; although due to the nature of her job, she spent plenty of time away from the quaint apartment she called home for eight months.
There was a culture shock of sorts to overcome living much more temperate climate of the UAE, but that was nothing compared to the shock of adjusting to a lot less football in her life.
“The UAE was quite amazing I must say – the culture is quite different but it was quite good to experience. Living alone, it was very good,” she said.
“I lived quite a different lifestyle compared to back home and I fell in love with Dubai the minute I stepped off the plane. I adjusted to my new apartment quite quickly which was across the road to Burj Khalifa [the tallest building in the world]. Religion plays a significant role in Dubai, and it was just beautiful to experience.
“When I first moved, it was quite hard without football. The first few weeks I was going crazy not having a ball at my feet,” she added.
While it was hard in the initial stages, she did find an outlet for her football fix, with current Dandenong Thunder coach Huss Skenderovic – who held the role of technical director at Ajman Club in the UAE at the time – providing an opportunity for her to play at an elite level.
READ MORE > Huss’ Overseas Odyssey: How the Gulf is leaving Australia behind
“It was definitely easier, [Huss] gave me a lot of information about what to do, what not to do. He sent me in the right direction with things I needed to know which was really good,” she said.
“I did end up speaking to him about playing football and he basically had an opportunity for me to play for the UAE national team. I was close to taking it up, but it was quite hard in regards to my shifts with Emirates as I was constantly doing different timed flights.
“It was a bit hard [without football], but I did play on and off with a boys squad that played nearby to where I lived in my apartment. It kept me going but it was really hard.”
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Pedic made her return to Australia in May 2015 for the wedding of her older brother. It was a fitting way to return for her given her incredibly close ties she shares with her family, born out of tragic circumstances.
The death of her father to a rock-fishing accident almost a decade ago – while incredibly hard at first – helped bring together her family, as Pedic began to deal with the untimely loss in her own time.
“It was quite a difficult time in our lives, our world turned upside down in a split second. You never get over it, you sort of just learn to live with it,” she said.
“It was the toughest period of my life, but I figured dwelling on it for the rest of my life won’t get me anywhere. I tried to turn the biggest negative I’ve ever experienced into somewhat of a positive.
“Everything [from my family] has inspired me to keep going with football. It runs in the family really, they inspire me to not give up. It’s definitely put me in the right direction with life, even though it was a massive negative.”
Pedic’s footballing path was laid early by her parents who she labelled her “biggest support” and that set the direction she’s gone on to take so far.
“[Our family] used to live in Germany and my brother had been playing since he was four or five years old,” she told.
“My mum and dad were just amazing, always taking their time off work – even cancelling if they were scheduled – to take us to games. My parents were definitely the biggest support, but my dad [especially] my biggest hero.
“I have to mention my mum and my brother, they’ve been incredible. With my upbringing, I don’t know where I’d be without them. The way they brought me up, I can’t begin to thank them enough.”
The passing of her dad, while a major hurdle in her life, gave her the opportunity to convert the negative situation into an overwhelming positive with her charity work. Much the same can be said about that groin injury which eventually paved the way for her trip to Dubai.
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“My dad passed away to a tragic fishing accident and I did a charity run for him to raise awareness of the dangers of rock fishing within the community, [but to] also make it known what he really meant in our lives,” she said.
“This opened a sea of opportunities, one being becoming an ambassador for Life Saving Victoria.”
“I try not to dwell on things. Things happen and they go wrong in life, same as with soccer. Even the most famous players get injured, but what can you do? You just have to move on.
“Whatever’s happening in life, whether it’s a positive or a negative, I just try to take the most out of it and make it the most positive outcome that I possibly can with circumstances I am faced with.”
Taking the positives out of all situations has helped Pedic realise what is truly important to her – football. She spoke openly about her desire to work in the sport, recently taking up a role as a sideline paramedic for Melbourne Victory home-games.
“I finished my paramedics course five years ago and I’ve been working since, but I’m only now getting back on track since I’ve moved back home,” she said.
“I’m also working as a sideline medic for the Melbourne Victory, so basically my life is all about football at the moment.”
She admits that while at first she was star-struck going into work with the Victory players she’d previously supported from the sidelines, that soon wore off as the “great bunch of boys” became friends rather than idols.
She even managed to score a gift from a Victory cult hero, with whom she happened to share the same shoe size with.
“I work with them nearly every week and they’re a great bunch of boys, great players and they have really good staff there. It’s feeding my love for football even more really,” she said.
“As for [my boots], they were given to me at the Perth Glory game last month by Archie Thompson. They’re just a bit of a gift to use for the season so hopefully they’re lucky.”
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She’s hoping to put the new fluorescent orange boots to the test in the coming weeks as she approaches a return to peak fitness, having trained with Box Hill throughout pre-season. She’s hoping the club – which she’s enjoyed two previous stints with – can be the place to re-ignite her footballing career in Victoria.
“I’ve been training with Box Hill for pre-season for the last few weeks. We’ve had a bit of a break over the Christmas period but other than that, it’s been steady,” Pedic said.
“Throughout the break, I’ve been playing futsal, which is keeping me quite fit. I’ve basically never stopped playing futsal, every week I’m at the ground playing a game.
“I’m just waiting now to get back into pre-season and waiting to see if I’m staying with Box Hill.”
Having plundered seven goals in her last year at the pinnacle of Victorian football – before injuries and Dubai stopper her season – she’s proven that she can match it with the elite at this level. The next natural progression for her is W-League, and although it may seem a distant dream, Pedic says all she can do is “give it my all”.
If she falls short, the ambitious 25-year-old has already made plans for working in the field of football, something which she’d give up paramedics for in a heartbeat to get the opportunity to do.
“I am very driven to give it my all this season. Not having played at the highest level last year really has driven my hunger for football. I am definitely driven and I’d be overwhelmed if the opportunity did come up,” she said about her W-League ambitions.
“I can only do my best, and if it doesn’t happen, working in football is definitely my long-term shot. Now that I’ve seen how it is working with Melbourne Victory, I go to work without working because I love it that much.”
Feature Image: Graeme Furlong