Tahlia has tried her hand at just about every sport the Wimmera has to offer – and more often than not, she has found a natural talent and passion for whatever she chooses.

But in her young career, she has already dealt with significant adversary.

When Tahlia was six, she was diagnosed with perthes disease – a rare ailment that affects growth of the hip bone in children.

She used crutches for 18 months, putting as little weight as possible on her hip. 

But even while rest was the only treatment for the disease, it was difficult to keep Tahlia off her feet.

“They originally said nine months, then they said three more and three more,” Tahlia’s father Brett Thompson said.

“She couldn’t put any weight on it.

“Considering she goes 100 miles an hour, it took a fair bit to keep her off it. She’s the fastest person I’ve ever seen on crutches.

“Eventually after 18 months they said she could start walking again.”

For Tahlia, the early setback and a scary medical concern has made her appreciate running around even more.

“It’s probably one of the reasons why I’m more determined to do as much as I can now,” she said.

“I know what it’s like not being able to do sport and everything.”

Since she was given the all-clear to start playing sport, Tahlia has thrown herself into everything she could.

With the support of her parents, she has played netball, tennis, basketball, volleyball, cricket and dancing – all with some degree of success. 

Netball has been one of the main sports where Tahlia has quickly become one of the region’s brightest talents. 

She won consecutive club best-and-fairest awards for Pimpinio’s 13-and-under netball side, as the Horsham District league team went undefeated on the road to back-to-back premierships in 2017 and 2018.

She won the league best-and-fairest last year as well, and played inter-league for the second straight year.

The Thompsons also had an incredible result in the senior netball.

Tahlia played with her mother Maree in Pimpinio’s premiership-winning C Reserve team. They shared the goal ring together, with Tahlia playing goal attack and Maree at goal shooter. 

Tahlia was awarded best-on-court for the match.

“That was amazing,” Tahlia said. “Winning that premiership with my mum was pretty special – it was a really good opportunity to have.

“It was good to win the best-on-ground as well.” 

Tahlia’s netball achievements are only rivaled by her tennis accolades, where she’s equally well renowned.

“I’ve played in lots of junior points tournaments and, I guess, I mainly win them,” Tahlia said shyly. 

“I’ve played the last four inter-regional tournaments as well. Marli Pymer and I made it into the final and came runners-up this year. Being there with Marli was great.”

Tahlia got the chance to play at the iconic Kooyong tennis courts in the Alicia Molik Cup. She has played senior tennis in the Central Wimmera Tennis Association for a couple of years.

She played a number of pennant matches with Horsham Lawn this season, winning several sets in the region’s top grade.

More recently, cricket has emerged as another sport Tahlia has shown natural talent.

Outside of some pretty heated backyard cricket with her three siblings, Tahlia started playing competitive cricket just last year. She was quickly selected to play for the Western Victoria representative team, the Western Waves under-14 girls. 

“One of the coaches from the Western Waves saw Tahlia at a primary school cricket and put her on a shortlist,” Brett said. 

“She’s only played about three Friday night games this season.”

She competed at a Youth Premier League tournament last week, playing against the best young cricketers in the state.

Tahlia’s Western Waves coach Grace Lee said she had shown an incredible attitude to learning and playing the sport.

“She’s only played occasionally, so she took everything on board,” Lee said.

“She was always eager to learn and hear every bit of feedback we had for her.

“In the field she was taking dives on the boundary. You couldn’t fault her at all. She had a lot of energy and a great attitude.” 

Tahlia has also shown to be a pretty handy basketballer, playing in the domestic competition. She also used to play volleyball.

But as for her favourite sport, it comes down to a close contest between tennis and netball.

“If a tennis person asks me what’s my favourite sport, I’ll say tennis; if a netball person asks me, I’ll say netball,” Tahlia joked. “They’re pretty even.”

Tahlia hasn’t thought too far ahead about picking between sports when things start to get more serious. Considering she’s only in year seven, a decision does not need to be made anytime soon.

She said she’s just enjoying playing sport and said she wished more people her age got involved in a wide array of sports.

“I reckon more kids should try to do sport,” she said. “There’s a lot of people (involved) but some haven’t tried it. If they did, I reckon they would love it.”

Tahlia also recognised the enormous effort her family and particularly her parents had given so she could take on these opportunities. 

“I couldn’t do it without my parents and family,” Tahlia said. “They have played a big role … a very big role.”