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2004
2004 - A `Pretty Special' Year For Moorwood
by Jeremy Ruane
When Hayley Moorwood looks back on her life, 2004, even by her standards, will be a year marked down as `pretty special'.
After all, it's not every year you win a NZ Herald Junior Sports Award, take up a scholarship at Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, find yourself named MIAA Freshman of the Year three months later, then top it all off by being named NZ Women's International Young Player of the Year.
And this is without making mention of helping Lynn-Avon United to another Northern League - Uncle Toby's Cup double, and playing all bar six minutes of New Zealand's five women's internationals in the year, one packed with memories aplenty.
“Playing against the USA was such an amazing experience”, says the eight-times-capped international. “It was by far my best tour to date. I couldn't believe that I'd played against them when I got back to SBU - I was still looking at the photos days later.
“They are famous!! It's hard to convey just how famous they are! I couldn't get over playing against Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy, Aly Wagner … we'd watched them win the Olympics, then heard some of them were going to retire. I said to Pip (Meo) we'll probably never get the chance to play against them - within two months, there we were playing against Mia Hamm. Awesome!
A funny story emerged from those matches. “Pip and I had this idea that we'd each get a Mia Hamm ball for her to sign. It was supposed to be just the two of us, but I told Kirsty (Yallop), and Pip told Dana (Humby) … next thing you know, half the team's got the same idea!”
You think that's bad? How's this for a punch line? One of her team-mates ended up asking Mia to sign Hayley's keepsake, because young Miss Moorwood was too shy to do so herself!!
On the field, however, the twenty-one-year-old is anything but shy - if anything, she's excitement plus! Something the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association's women's soccer competition found out in fairly short order.
“It's been quite a good semester”, she says with typical modesty of her award-winning Freshman campaign. “I've learnt a lot in terms of my game. When I arrived there, in August, I had to get used to playing in forty-degree heat during the first couple of weeks. Given we were playing up to three games a week for four months straight, you just did it.
“We were on the road a lot, too - the average travel time to a game was five hours. Because of this, there's no room for cattiness - you're with each other twenty-hours a day during the course of the season, so you need to be able to easily blend with your team-mates, which this team does”.
A big help in that regard are Hayley's room-mates, fellow NZ internationals Pip Meo and Priscilla Duncan. “We live in the same apartment, so we help each other out all the time.
“Life at SBU is different, that's for sure. Indeed, the whole American lifestyle is very different. It's a lot faster, and took me a while to get used to. But playing soccer in the USA is where I wanted to go at this stage of my career, and both myself and my game are definitely benefiting from the move, and the
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 2004 NZ Int'l Young Player of the Year
 photo from JR's personal collection
 photo courtesy Graham Hughes / Proshotz
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whole experience.
“The quality is better than in New Zealand, and you're playing against other teams of similar or better standard. The coaching's great, and you're meeting new players and playing with players from different backgrounds - there are two girls at SBU from England, for instance”.
Rumours abound that living in the land of popcorn and pretzels has unveiled hitherto unknown talents in our young midfield maestro. Is it a case of move over, Jo Seagar, Jamie Oliver et al?
“Ha ha! I don't think they`ve got too much to worry about at this stage, `cause I've only just started cooking my own meals - the need to be independent over there has been one of the biggest things for me to adapt to to date.
“At present, my recipe book is limited to cereal, pasta and bagels, but … Hey! Don't look at me like that! It's `cause nothing's fresh over there. The food quality was the main thing I had to get used to. And compared to New Zealand”, she said while home for Christmas, “what I miss most is the cleanliness and fresh air.
“You tend to take these things so much for granted, until you're actually away from them. But you have to make sacrifices along the way if you want to achieve your goals, and the main reason I'm there is the soccer, and that's going well”.
A typical week at SBU sees the 2003 Northern Premier Women's League Player of the Year up with the birds at 6am, then training for two hours, followed by six hours in the classroom fulfilling her Sports Management course. “After 2pm, we study or relax. With doing so much fitness training, you just want to relax when you have any spare time.
“Sometimes we have two training sessions, and the second one is scheduled from 5pm for two hours. After that, it's time to cook my pasta, and while I'm in bed by ten, I don't get to sleep till midnight - my room-mates and I have a natter!!
“If we have a game, the next day is a rest day, while every Sunday is a rest day. On Saturdays, we play during the season, while it's training out of season. So when we return, we're straight into weight training - yuck!! I'm not looking forward to that, but it's got to be done!”
The thought of SBU missing out on progressing in the national play-offs by virtue of a penalty shoot-out is the reason. “That moment was really gutting. To lose like that … suffice to say, it's a big incentive to go out and win it next season”.
It was snowing when Hayley left Missouri for home just before Christmas, and the weather was far from summer-like upon her return to Bolivar, Missouri, in late January. But Mother Nature has little influence on her plans at present.
“I'm looking to finish my scholarship in four years' time, be it at SBU or elsewhere, because I still need to develop my game. After that, the
objective is to play overseas, and, of course, continue playing for New Zealand.
“We've got a good chance of making it to China in both 2007 and 2008”, says the NZ Women's International Young Player of 2004, “and I certainly want to be part of it”.
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