MATILDAS defender Servet Uzunlar was the special guest at Woolooware High School's annual sports assembly last week.
The school celebrated one of its most outstanding results in recent years after it claimed two state titles on the same day in August, including the NSW Comprehensive High Schools girls' football final.
Woolooware scored an exhilarating 4-3 win on penalties over Wauchope High School at Seymour Shaw Park.
Earlier that day, the school's open boys' softball team claimed their title with a win over Hunter Sports High in Newcastle.
Sports organiser Susan Smith said it had been a year to remember.
"It was really one of those things. We've always been really consistent in knockout comps but haven't won them," she said.
"We had a really successful basketball team for years and years that kept running second and third and our touch football kids are always right up there.
"To win two on the one day, we were pretty much walking around on a cloud there for a while. It does a lot for the school's morale and a lot of the kids that perhaps aren't academic achievers, it puts them on a real high and celebrates what they can do."
Uzunlar, 26, of Kirrawee was a member of the Matildas squad that made the quarter finals of the women's football World Cup in Canada in June before they were beaten 1-0 by Japan.
She spoke about her career and left students with a message of inspiration.
"We wanted someone there from the local area who is a role model and she even said that she was just like these kids once, sitting there in the assembly really passionate about her sport," Smith said.
"And it was a really positive message that kids can achieve all these great things but you've got to work hard.
"You'll have disappointments but you need to be resilient.
"She's just a girl from Kirrawee who went on to do these great things and our kids can too if they want to work hard enough."