Telaya Blacksmith has prepared to step out into international infamy of the 2024 Paralympics after viral video clips of the athlete's power and speed have circulated around the world.

But it was only a couple of years ago Blacksmith was happy enough running around an oval for the almost obscure Shellharbour Swans, hidden away south of Sydney in rugby league territory.

Like many other Indigenous adolescence, the proud Warlpiri teen has always wanted to try her hand and display her abilities and skill at every sporting activity available.

Growing up in Lajamanu, about 550 kilometres south-west of Katherine, where about 90 per cent of its 600 residents are Warlpiri people, there was little choice but either running fast or kick a footy around.

Little did the growing Blacksmith realise that her talents were so deep that she may have to consider prioritising one over another one day in a fresh life in the big smoke.

Leading into the Paralympic Games in Paris, the 16-year-old has been well and truly running flat out, but still itching to return to the Sydney Swans girls' academy, whose squad develops young, future AFLW players, far removed from playing down in Shellharbour for fun.

"She's very spirited, bright, and absolutely loves the footy," Blacksmith's Shellharabour junior coach Craig Ridding told a Sydney Swans promotional video about her 2022 arrival.

"She will talk about the footy one minute and then talk about something else, but it's always straight back to football."

It was no coincidence nor luck that Sydney Swans found Blacksmith in NRL heartland.

She moved there with adoptive parents Bec and Ryan Woolfe, who himself has played a pivotal role in the Aboriginal education sector of Clontarf College academies in the state.

Woolfe's wisdom in the game certainly has not hindered Blacksmith's football potential that has expanded to joining Endeavour Sports High School in Sydney.

The early signs was the club's women's academy much like it has with several of its current AFL and AFLW stars had caught another big fish from the Big Rivers region and is gradually reeling the dual sports talent in.

The club is determined to find the right balance between fulfilling Blacksmith's goals into the future.

"The Academy are so proud of Telaya and her achievements," Sydney academy assistant coach Kristie Whittard said on the Swans website.

"Her journey to Paralympic qualification represents competitive spirit, hard work, resilience.

"Telaya's commitment has been extraordinary, balancing the academy, athletics and Year 11 studies, and all while maintaining her cheeky sense of humour.

"She is a testament to what athletic ability, determination and exposure to elite programs can achieve."

Woolfe has watched her progress and said Blacksmith doesn't feel the pressure of being an extraordinary competitor at both elite pursuits.

Flying out to Paris just days from her opening 100-metre heat on Tuesday morning, Woolfe had a little chuckle after watching a video of the simple Warlpiri girl looking over the Stade de France high into the stands and with a big smile on her face in awe of the size of the venue.

"She still has a great ability to keep a lid on things," Woolfe said.

"She never gets ahead of herself and she's not one to gloat about what she's doing either.

"If anything, she has this beautiful innocence attached to what she's about to do."

That goes the same from possibly making a decision on where her sporting loyalties lie.

The moment she is able to run comparable times to non-Paralympic athletes could end up deciding what happens.

Not motivated by money, the opportunity to travel the world on the athletics scene could be too tempting to say no.

"She's only 16, so she doesn't have to make that tough call, but she also sees that the top AFLW players can actually juggle two sports a lot of them," Woolfe said.

"She thinks she can tackle both as long as she can."

But one curious question Blacksmith asked once she almost incidentally qualified for a first Paralympics suggests the Indigenous Australian game remains her true love.

The Swans academy is essentially a preseason to playing Australian football elsewhere.

The players often flock to the state competitions, which is the basis for the AFLW preseason.

While Blacksmith was happy enough to forego suburban grounds in the wet and cold of the Australian winter for the early Autumn of Paris, her football prospects was never too far from her mind.

"When she gets back from Paralympics, she pretty much rolls straight back into the Swans' preseason," Woolfe said.

"So it has worked out really well.

"But one of the first things that she asked when she got selected in the Para (team) was, 'This won't affect benchmark (football) training, will it?'."

While she is classified a T20 athlete with an intellectual disability that according to the Paralympics officials must have "significant limitations in adaptive behaviour", Blacksmith's basic aptitude to comprehend instructions does not affect her performance on a footy oval.

Call it perhaps a natural, built-in instinct that most Indigenous footballers have, but she gets around the one thing that allows her to run the 100m and compete in the long jump at the Paralympics.

So much so that the Swans academy admitted they "had no idea" that Blacksmith was even eligible to compete as an athlete with a disability.

"So we had a chat about, well, I wouldn't call limitations, but some things that the Swans can use, some tactics, when they're talking about set plays and remembering positional things," he said.

"But it's just a simple matter of going over to Telaya and saying, 'Did you understand that?' or can we explain it a different way?

"The Swans were the first to say that she's great value and she brings diversity to the team, and that she is helping them as coaches.

"But Telaya physically and certainly athletically is well and truly up to their level."

A lot of credit has to go to training under credentialed athletics coach Jacinta Doyle, who has kept a watchful eye over multiple Paris Paralympians, both qualified world under-20s youth and Commonwealth Games athletes, including Paris Olympics silver medallist Jessica Hull.

Woolfe wouldn't change a thing about her overall preparation, calling it a "good mixture of the two".

"When she is in her depths of footy and athletics, in a funny way, it kind of compliments each other," he said.

"She'll be the first to say she loves the physical contact of AFL and all the running she does in the 400m compliments her when she's out on the footy field as well."