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McColl
The Before And After Tales Of
An International Debut With A Difference!!
by Jeremy Ruane
National Selection Caps Stellar Year For Emily
By her own admission, Emily McColl hasn't visited many countries over the course of her twenty-one years. But she's certainly looking forward to seeing a Papua New Guinea stamp gracing her passport this month!
The bright-eyed midfielder hasn't been able to wipe her trademark ear-to-ear grin from her face since being named in the New Zealand squad for April's Women's World Cup qualifying tournament.
One of two new caps named in the squad, Emily is currently relishing life in the USA, at Coastal Carolina University, to be precise. When she's not concentrating on her biology major, she's dissecting opposing defences with surgical precision.
So effective was she in this role in the 2006 college season that it earned her selection in the Big South All-Tournament Team and the ESPN Magazine-sponsored Academic All-District Second Team, a line-up chosen from student-athletes from Division One schools throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Yet just one year prior, this particular Lady Chanticleer - the nickname afforded CCU's women's team - was a very frustrated young lady, thanks to a nagging injury.
“I had a stress fracture in my right foot. It was so bad that I had to have a cast on it for a while, but I was eventually cleared to play again. I was selected for the NZ Universities squad to play in Turkey that year, and although I managed to play three games while there, it flared up again.
“It was the same pain, so I knew it hadn't healed. When I got back to America, I had to have surgery on it to rectify matters. The whole episode sidelined me for about a year. This latest season was the test for it, and thankfully it's fine now”.
That's an understatement if ever there was one! The 2006 campaign was a stellar year for Emily, one in which she started all twenty matches CCU played, matching her efforts in her first season for the college she joined in 2004.
“I've had two different coaches while at CCU, and it's all going pretty well there, to be honest. The team did well last season, finishing second in the Big South Conference, but losing in the semi-finals of our post-season tournament, the winner of which went through to the NCAA play-offs. No prizes for guessing what our targets are this season!!”
Such targets were far from the thoughts of a five-year-old girl watching her brother, Sam, play at Eastbourne in 1990. “I got bored with doing that, so I decided to play myself, and did so in boys teams there for eight years, at which point I moved to Petone. I started off in their Second Division team, then moved up to the First Division side”.
A member of the NZ U-17s squad which contested the Australian State Youth Championships in 2000, Emily captained Hutt Valley High School's first eleven in 2001-3 inclusive, and the NZ Secondary Schoolgirls on their 2004 trip across the Tasman.
“I've had various trips to Australia with New Zealand teams, and the Secondary Schoolgirls trips were a lot of fun”, recalls this proud Kiwi. “But I could never call Australia the best country I've visited - it's just wrong!!”
2001 also saw the then fifteen-year-old in the hat-trick-scoring form for the NZ U-18s against South Australia, during a tournament in which she also netted against what was the senior New Zealand squad in all things but name.
This served as preparation for the U-19 Women's World Cup qualifying tournament in Tonga in 2002. “That was a lot of fun”, recalls the scorer of goals against Fiji and Tonga. “Everything, that is, apart from the final!” (Australia won 6-0).
After playing for the NZ U-17 Development Squad in the inaugural National Women's League later that year, she was named Player of the Year and Most Promising Player for Petone in her final campaign with that season's Kelly Cup runners-up.
“In 2004 I transferred to Seatoun, and had a season there before taking up my scholarship at CCU. Going to America is a definite highlight of my career to date. It's been a good change for me. The competition's so intense, and you realise how important fitness is.
“Turkey, too, was very memorable. It was like nothing I've ever seen! The World University Games was effectively a mini-Olympics, and the opening ceremony was a real stand-out for me, as I'd never been in a big stadium with a big crowd before.
“It was a good competition, very professional, and one in which we did well. We beat Taiwan, South Africa and Turkey, and drew with the Czech Republic. Any time you get the chance to play against another nation, it's pretty important stuff, so even though my being on the sidelines with injury meant it was pretty tough for me at times - I`d much rather play than watch! - it was still a great thrill”.
As is her selection for New Zealand's forthcoming Women's World Cup campaign, which is as much of a delight to her biggest fans as it is to Emily herself. “My parents, Rob and Debbie, have always been very supportive. Even when I wasn't enjoying it, they were always encouraging me to keep going.
“I think my Mum likes the game more than I do now!! She travelled everywhere with me when I was growing up - never missed a game. You've got to be happy about that, eh?”
Along with the constant encouragement of her family, Emily cites her love for the game and striving to be the best she can be as key factors in her achievements to date.
“Another element comes from the challenges that coaches set you, along with the team itself pushing you on to achieve your goals. That's what really drives me - knowing what I have to do, and working for the team to realise those objectives”.
You can rest assured that with China 2007 on the horizon, Emily McColl won't need any prompting to help New Zealand realise its objectives in Papua New Guinea this month, and mark her full international debut in style.
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  In action against the USA's Marci Jobson
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McColl Back On Track After Her Spectacular Debut
New Zealand's most recent debutant in international women's football, Emily McColl, can't remember much about her debut at the Oceania Women's World Cup qualifying tournament in Papua New Guinea in April.
Not even the fact that, of all 153 women to have worn the silver fern over their heart since this country's first international in 1975, it was probably the most spectacular.
After all, it's not often you fall victim to heatstroke during the course of a match.
That's the fate which befell McColl, however, after coming on as a half-time substitute against the Solomon Islands. “I had about twenty minutes, I think, then the next thing I can remember is waking up in the dressing room feeling somewhat disorientated. I was put on a drip while at the ground, and was then put in an ambulance and rushed off to a Papua New Guinea hospital, which was quite an experience.
“It was horrendous, in fact. We walked in, and there was a thirteen-year-old boy lying to one side - he'd died of malaria. Then I got shuffled through this big crowd of people waiting, about which I felt quite bad, because they probably needed treatment more than I did.
“I went straight to a bed, and they took some blood tests, soon after which I was on my way again - I was only in the hospital for about ten minutes”.
As was to be expected, everyone involved with the squad was decidedly concerned for McColl's welfare, and while the lady herself remembers little about it, “I'm a little nervous nowadays, in case it ever happens again”.
Memories of her second appearance for her country are still fresh in McColl's mind. “Playing against Canada on Sunday was good - nothing went too terribly wrong. While watching the first half, I was really nervous for the whole team, because it hit me that we were actually playing Canada.
“But I was really excited to go on in the second half - it was fun. I enjoyed myself, and compared to the experience of PNG, it was perfect weather, so that was good too!”
The two-match series against the Canadians is a key component of New Zealand's preparations for September's Women's World Cup Finals in China, a challenge which didn't initially capture McColl's imagination.
“If you'd asked me two months ago, I'd have said it's not too big a carrot. But now I've committed to it, I'm really going to try to get there - it'll be awesome. If I do get selected, great, but if I don't, at least I tried.
“It'll be a bit of a shame if I do miss out, because it'll be a lost opportunity, but I'm still relatively young, at 21, although we've got fifteen and sixteen-year-olds in our team now … but life goes on, and there are other teams to play for”.
One of those teams is a combination McColl is heading to, following the conclusion of the Canada series. “I'm flying to Florida to play for Cocoa Expos for six weeks in the Women's Premier Soccer League.
“It'll be the first club team I've played for over there, and my New Zealand and Coastal Carolina University team-mate and room-mate, Emma Humphries, will be joining me there for a few weeks before heading back for summer school in July.
“A girl in our team at Coastal Carolina University played for them last summer and recommended it. She said it was a really good time, with good football, and put us in touch with the coach, who was keen to have us. So it should be a good experience”.
Studies at CCU are going well for McColl, who has eighteen months to go before her graduation. “I'm taking my time, as I want to stay in America for as long as I can - I'm quite comfortable there. When I first went there, I was homesick quite a lot, but not any more. I think I've got the travel bug - maybe I'll head somewhere else soon!”
Such as Australia in July with the New Zealand squad, although she won't have to venture too far for their August assignment. “There are lots of things lined up at the moment, which is good. If I do get selected for those games against America in August, I won't have much travelling to do compared with everyone else - I'll have that advantage, for once, so that'll be nice.
“But I will admit to being a little nervous about the USA games. They`re one of the best teams in the world, so if we can compete against them, good on us”.
Competing against Canada on Wednesday evening at North Harbour Stadium is the target right now, however, and Emily McColl's promising showing when coming on as a second half substitute in the first encounter between the countries suggests her recently discovered enthusiasm for and commitment to the China campaign may well prove memorable for her.
Certainly more so than her New Zealand debut, at any rate!
Emily McColl's Favourites
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