Kennedy is the first female called into action for Ballarat Associated School's marquee boys cricket competition.

The 14-year-old is aware of this significance, yet at the same time appreciates the seemingly normalcy in this. She has felt the cultural shift that has picked up pace since she first picked up the ball.

Ballarat Clarendon College has made clear Kennedy's selection, not only to train but to play with the squad, was ability-based - and also key to this was her willingness and commitment to learning.

This is the changing nature of the sporting landscape.

The modern boom in elite women's sporting prominence, led nationally by codes such as cricket, has been a game-changer. It has not been an overnight change - and there is still such a long way to go.

When schools like College and a player like Kennedy are prepared to try something new, is undoubtedly set higher standards and sparks imaginations.

"It's a big step in a way, but kinda not," Kennedy told The Courier. This is how such a move should be - it should not be an exception but an expectation in inclusion.

When you hear the spit crews back roaring for BAS' Head of the Lake rowing this Sunday, know it was only 42 years ago the girls' Boat Race crown was introduced in a shortened race over 500 metres. And in heavy tubs.

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Head of the Lake boys' event was first raced in 1912. It took almost 70 years for them to give the girls a go.

There were those in the traditional boys club who deemed it inappropriate for women to row, even though in the late 1970, there were girls beating boys in training runs and showing their skills in other regattas.

Fifteen years ago, College put the first female coxswain, Sarah Shepherd, into a boat for Boys' Head of the Lake. The move went largely unseen in Ballarat, with the regatta playing out in Nagambie due to drought conditions on Lake Wendouree.

Now such a move - a female making calls in a male crew - barely creates a ripple, let alone waves, both in school and open-age rowing ranks.

Hopefully, female cricketers sharpening their game in schoolboy cricket will follow in similar fashion.

The fact Kennedy is in year nine and playing senior cricket, let alone the fact she is female, is impressive enough.

A left-arm quick for Buninyong, Kennedy also made her Victorian Premier Cricket debut with Carlton women's firsts this summer.

Kennedy said it did not phase her bowling to males - ultimately they were still all cricketers. But she was aware the impact it could make because female role models in the sports she loved were important.

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Press Box has long championed pathways for athletes of all ages and abilities to try and push their games to the highest levels they can. This comes back to opportunity.

Kennedy is enjoying the challenge and chance to learn from her teammates.

Now is the time to let her actions to do the talking - she earned this. There will be decades' worth of schoolgirl cricketers cheering her on.

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