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2005
"A Huge, Huge Honour" For Home Again Hayley
by Jeremy Ruane
An awful lot has happened in the life of Hayley Moorwood during the past five months.
When interviewed over dinner for February's issue of Soccer Talk, she was preparing to return to Southwest Baptist University in Missouri for the second half of the first year of her scholarship.
But after celebrating her 21st birthday, a dramatic change in circumstances saw her return home again soon afterwards, and when we sat down to catch up late last month, gracing the other side of the dinner table was the youngest-ever captain in New Zealand women's soccer's history.
Amazed? Not half as much as she is! So where better to begin than from the beginning, and the reasons which brought about Hayley's return home.
"I came back from SBU due to family issues, which, despite what others may think, I considered to be a good step, particularly in terms of my soccer. The reasons I say that are I was leaving a team which didn't have a coach, as Pete McGovern, our coach at SBU, had left.
"I had a long think about the situation, and I thought by coming back home, with the environment that they have going on with the Elite Squad, I'd be getting good training, and playing with good players. So with all the family issues going on, and wanting to go and help, I thought why not go back home, help my family and get better soccer as well?
"So I returned, and it's turned out to be the best step I could have made. I think it was probably one of the better steps that I've made in my life, to be quite honest, for as much as my return wasn't for a good reason, I think it's improved my football at the same time".
Those improvements are a result of training three nights a week with her peers as part of the New Zealand Senior Elite Women's International Development Squad, a concept which this Mia Hamm fan is very much in favour of.
"The Elite Squad training is definitely one of the better things that's come out of women's soccer, and the coaching staff that come as part of the package, as well. It's not just Mick Leonard and Paul Smalley coaching us all the time - we've got six different coaches coaching us, and they've all got different things to teach us, so it's not the same trainings over and over - there's something different every night. We're always learning, always building.
"We're getting a lot more recognition as a result, too. We've got a good sponsorship deal - they help us out with everything. And there's the spreading of the word, too, such as through Soccer Talk. As much as some of the clubs don't like us not being with the clubs, I think for us to improve this concept needed to be introduced".
There was another concept which was introduced in early May, one which caught the majority of people by surprise, not least of whom the individual concerned. Hayley answered the phone one day to discover Mick Leonard on the other end of the line.
"Where do I start? I got the phone call from Mick, and he said something like 'If I appoint you as captain, would you be willing to accept?' and I was like, 'What? Are you kidding me? Of course I would!! I'd be honoured to be captain of the NZ women's team'.
"I wasn't expecting any of it at all. I think Rebecca Smith is a great captain, but I guess they had their reasons for appointing me. I had no idea that they were even considering me as the captain - as much as I loved it that they did, but I had no idea they were even looking at me, for the future as well, in terms of captain. It was cool - it was good!
"I ended up becoming NZ captain because of my performances in trainings, etc., and the coaches could see, I guess, a leader in me, and I ended up gaining the respect of a lot of the other players as well. For Maia Jackman - a New Zealand women's international for twelve years now - to say 'I respect you as a captain', even though I'm such a young captain
to have that respect means a lot to me".
As well as the captaincy, Hayley was given another task to embrace - the new face of New Zealand women's football. Talk about all your Christmases coming at once!!
"Yeah, that was a new one. The new face
I don't know. I never thought I was going to be the new face, let alone captain, so it all just came as a big shock. I wasn't expecting any of it.
"Once again, it's just a huge honour to be named to be a part of any of it. Maia is pretty much the face of women's soccer and to be able to step up and do what she has been doing is something I think I can do.
"I'm looking forward to the journey of being able to step up and be the face and hopefully keep being the captain of NZ women's soccer. Hopefully I can follow on from what Maia's been doing so far".
So what does being captain of your country mean to Hayley Moorwood?
"Ooh, that's a good question", she replies, pausing briefly to compose her thoughts. "I can't explain it any other way than to say it's just a huge, huge honour to be captain of the NZ women's team.
"I seriously never thought I would have been, and when I was called and appointed, I was ecstatic. I started ringing my mum", she giggles as she recalls the moment, "as I had to tell her the news. I'd have to say it's just a huge, huge honour - that's what it means to me.
"I thought it would be cool but I never thought it would happen kind of thing, but
it's amazing really, crazy! Seriously unreal!
"I had a talk with Maia and Jenny Bindon - I think we'd played maybe two games since I was announced as captain at the time - and they sat me down and said, 'Hayley, there are different types of leaders. There are leaders that lead by example and leaders that lead off the field'.
"So they gave me a talk about not to take too much on my shoulders, and not to stress out or anything because I've been named captain. Just go out and do your own thing and play as you are, because that's why you were chosen to be captain - it's because you're one who performs on the field and leads by example.
"They really gave me some good advice, and I'm really thankful for that, and coming as it did from two of the older players in the group - it's really good to have that respect for you and to know how they feel. I'd like to think I've worked really hard to get where I am as well, to have earned that respect.
"It's good to have that respect from your best mates as well, some of whom, such as Melissa Ray and Priscilla Duncan, I've known for ten years. It's good to have their support as well when you are captain.
"I remember telling Melissa and, as much as I am her
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friend, she really didn't see me as a captaincy-type person at first. Once I'm out there trying to do what I do, though, she has that respect for me - not", Hayley chuckles at the thought of her chatty chum, "that she listens to me much, of course!!"
The trip to Japan presented the newly-appointed captain with her first opportunity to be first onto the field in an international, and it's a moment which holds special memories for her.
"Leading the team out for the first time against Japan was amazing as well - unbelievable. I was quite nervous, as it was the first time I was leading a team in my career. Half the players are older than me as well, so in terms of being a leader and trying to lead them as well, I was nervous in that sort of sense.
"I wasn't really nervous in terms of going out and playing how I usually play but once I got out there, I loved it - besides the beating, obviously, but
it was a good feeling to lead the national team out, with the national anthem and everything. It was unreal, really. It was crazy - to think that being 21 and I could be captain of the NZ women's team!!"
Ah, yes, the beating. 6-0 it was, in 28 degree heat before 3,495 spectators, one of whom was in charge of a bass drum located behind the New Zealand goal throughout the second half - goalkeeper Pam Yates is still recovering her sense of hearing from the ensuing racket!
"I learnt that the Japanese are really quick!!" quips Hayley, one of our better performers on the day. "As a player, you realise where you need to be, in terms of the standard and the level of your game you're supposed to be at. Playing Japan, they're all one-touch football and movement.
"There were three of us in the midfield and they were just running rings around us, and we knew it too. By the second half, we'd settled down a bit and it wasn't so hectic in the middle. You just realise the sorts of movements and the type of passing, and that the whole game is so much quicker, faster and more skilful at the highest level.
"Now the team knows where we need to be to be even with those teams, let alone beat them. I think it was a good experience for the team, 'cause we are a young team as well and we're still building. I think the experience as a whole was what we needed, just to see, as young players, how it's done - performance at the top level".
So what do we have to do to get there? What improvements, in the captain's eyes, must New Zealand Soccer make to ensure that our top female footballers realise their ambitions of not just qualifying for China 2007 and the Beijing Olympics a year later, but actually be a competitive force on those global stages for women's football?
"It's always being said that we need more games, particularly international games. To be able to play at the top level you need to be playing at the top level a lot, so we definitely need to play more internationals.
"It's probably the only improvement which needs to be made, and it's probably in the process of being made right now. Financial reasons come into it as well - we're not a country that has a lot of money, so they can't just ship us off like Australia does every month or so; we can't get eighty internationals a year like America does, or however many it is they play - it seems like eighty! - so financial reasons are a factor.
"As much as we're training, and as much as the trainings are really, really good, we still need to get in a game mode. When we came up against Japan, we'd only played five games before we played one of the best teams in the world, so to not have game time, and to not be able to do the things you normally do in a game environment, then to go and play an international - it's tough!
"The Elite Squad that we have doesn't get to play every week, and that's taken a toll on a lot of the players as well. A lot of them are not necessarily complaining, but just being mad soccer-loving players, we just want to play games all the time.
"It would be good to have a game every week, even if it's against the top women's sides or boy's sides - as long as we're playing. We've played seven games since the start of the year, including the internationals, so we definitely need to improve on that perspective.
"I think we need to be playing and training with each other as much as possible, to be able to perform when it comes to the big games".
For someone who loves playing, Hayley's found it hard conducting a watching brief throughout the season as her Lynn-Avon club set their sights on scoring a sixth successive Northern Premier Women's League crown.
"I can't handle watching a whole game, 'cause I just want to get out there and play! I either leave at half-time, or arrive at half-time for the second half - I don't think I've finished a full game this year, in terms of watching".
But watch she must, for the moment. Meantime, this fan of tennis, basketball, touch, Janet Jackson and - like just about all the Elite Squad members - Brad Pitt, has a life of her own to plan, and travel abroad to further her footballing career is part of the agenda.
"I'm in the process of looking at another college in the States - Virginia Commonwealth University has approached me. I'm in the process of sorting out all my grades, but because I left mid-semester from SBU, it's made it a lot harder than what it would have been if I was going normally. But I'm still looking at going to University and finishing off my degree.
"If it doesn't work out then I'll either stay and do a semester or two at University here and then go overseas next year to, say, Sweden, where Rebecca Smith will be, and where I can play for three months.
"I've also been keeping in touch with Amber Hearn about clubs in England who are willing to pick up players from NZ, and have given the coaches a couple of calls and found that they're willing to take players on.
"I just want to get myself overseas no matter what, but I'd like to stay in NZ for a bit longer, now that the whole captaincy and face of NZ soccer has come about, so the younger ones can see who this new face is, and also with regards my family situation.
"All in all, I love being captain, and I'm really happy I was appointed. I'm glad Mick has these expectations of me and is wanting to see me as the future, too, so I'm going to keep working as hard as I can, hopefully keep the captaincy and see where the game takes me, be it here or overseas".
It sounds like the future is going to be just as busy as the past five months have been for this outstandingly talented young Kiwi soccer star. But despite her tender years, the honour that is the captaincy of her country sits well with Hayley Moorwood, and you can count on the face of New Zealand women's soccer to lead by example, on and off the park, for a fair few years yet.
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