In July 2017, my focus had returned to football and I ventured off to Norway with an opportunity to play in the top women’s league, the Toppserien.

My new team, Medkila IL were facing relegation for the second half of the season, so, being an opportunist, I decided to take the challenge on with both hands to do my very best to help save the team from relegation and to gain some more international experience after having such an amazing time playing in Iceland previously.

I arrived in the extremely small country town of Harstad in the very northwestern region of Norway, but, after playing in some of the top-tier leagues of the world, it came as a shock to the system.

My new team did not have the same resources or funds I had been lucky enough to have had access to during my career so far, but, I was just excited to be playing in another international league that would test me both physically and mentally.

A great debut in Medkila colours saw me score a goal in a 1-1 draw away to IL Sandviken, but that, unfortunately, was as good as it would get for the remainder of the season.

Games from then were consecutive 4-0, 6-1, 5-0, 3-0 losses.

As a 22-year-old centre-back in a team full of young players between 15-17 with little to no senior experience, I found myself feeling like I had the weight of the team on my shoulders and there was little I could do to stop the onslaught of losses.

After the weekly thumpings, training soon became a chore. I was frustrated realising I would not be able to develop my football the way I thought I would, but, I hate the word, 'quit' and would never want it to be associated with me as an athlete, so I saw out the season, not wanting to let my team down.

My strong values and beliefs were as a result of finding meaning and religion during those hard times.

I was raised catholic with an understanding of Jesus and religion, however, I was never heavily involved.

At most, I would attend Mass at Christmas and Easter so never really considered it to play a big part of my life... Until I went to Norway.

One of my international teammates who was also my roommate had a strong commitment to her faith and found a bible study group that she would attend weekly.

At the time, I didn’t really think anything of it, but towards the end of the season when I was in a deeply negative mindset which had made me grow to hate the game I once loved, I found that subconsciously, her beliefs and openness about her faith, had forced me to think about my own beliefs and look deeper into why I was in this position. 

I took a walk along a hiking trail one day and came across a secluded hut built for picnics and small gatherings where I sat for a few hours and started to think “why me”.

Tears were shed and frustration built, but it then dawned on me that for whatever reason, I was meant to play in Norway and I was meant to struggle to find who I truly was.

I knew that from a football perspective I wasn’t going to develop, however from a personal perspective, I knew I was growing and learning more about myself.

This experience truly changed how I live my life and to this day, my faith and connection to God is so strong.

I trust the path He sets me on, which now makes it easy for me to understand that whatever I am going through, whether it be good or bad, has a purpose.

After finding my faith in Norway, I returned home to play in the W-League with Adelaide United, with a new sense of self.

For the first time, I was in Adelaide during the time of AFLW Crows pre-season which meant I could attend more training and be more involved. The possibility of being involved in both sports at the same time really excited me, but, it turned out to be a double-edged sword.

With more opportunities to be at AFLW training and commitments, it meant I wasn’t giving my body enough rest, physically or mentally and that ended up culminating in an average season across the two sports.

I ended up wanting to quit football altogether and just focus on AFLW and had come to terms with ending my W-League career that season, but, in August of 2018 I received a phone call from W-League Brisbane Roar coach, Mel Andreatta.

Mel asked me if I would be interested in playing half the season for Brisbane Roar, with the blessing from the team and club that I would be released to return to Adelaide to finish off the end of  AFLW pre-season and complete a full season.

My heart told me I couldn’t let go of a sport that had taken up the majority of my life’s focus, so I decided to give football ‘one last hurrah,' and that last hurrah was the best thing I could have done.

I ended up playing the full season with Brisbane Roar and fell in love with the game all over again. It was one of the best seasons I have ever had in my career and it was where my dreams of Olympic glory were reignited.

I was in top form and playing with a smile on my face. I felt like there were no expectations so I was just enjoying every moment.

This in turn led to people throwing my name in the ring for a national team call-up. It was the first time in my life that I started to think to myself, “Well hey, maybe I can do this. Maybe I am good enough. Maybe I can go to the next level.”

As I finished my season with Brisbane Roar, I returned home to fulfill my duties with the Adelaide Crows.

We had another cracking season mirroring the first, where we ended up Premiers.

We had 52,000 people pack Adelaide Oval to watch our grand final match, which at the time was the biggest stand-alone women’s fixture across all sports in Australia. The electricity in the stadium was something I will never ever forget, I knew, however, this would be my last season of AFLW for a while. I wanted to focus on football full time. 

The time was right, I left on a mission to represent my country and earn myself a spot on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games team. 

Stay tuned for the next instalment of Jenna's Olympic Diaries, coming soon.