Just over a year ago, Rachel Doody was celebrating her selection in the inaugural New Zealand Under-19 women’s soccer team to contest the Oceania U-19 Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Tonga. Little did she know that it would be the first of a string of highs over the ensuing twelve months. The most recent of these, however, is the crème de la crème - selection as one of eight new caps in the SWANZ squad for the upcoming Oceania Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament in Australia. New Zealand’s national women’s soccer team begin their match preparations for that tournament this Friday, when they head to Texas for five matches against leading college teams from the Lone Star state. "I was really happy when first selected - absolutely delighted, in fact", beamed the Lynn-Avon United midfielder. "All the players found out during a team meeting, and while I couldn’t do so at the time, all I wanted to do was leap around and celebrate - I was made up!!" "The team’s preparations have gone quite well", says Doody of all the work which the SWANZ have put in towards their month-long overseas venture. "The national squad gatherings have been a good mix of youth and experience, and we seem to have gelled quite well as a group. "The games in Texas will offer us a good opportunity to put all the hard work together and iron out the rough edges in our game, while, at the same time, getting used to playing against more physical opposition than that which we normally encounter here". "Then it’s off to Australia, for the qualifiers", for which Doody, like her SWANZ team-mates, has her own personal objectives. "Just getting in the starting line-up is my main goal, and playing really well whenever the opportunity avails itself". The lively teenager has every reason to look forward to the Women’s World Cup tournament, given the fantastic year she has had. "I was very pleased to score 362 marks in my final exams, enough to earn an ‘A’ Bursary". "I was then named as one of the recipients of a Prime Minister’s scholarship, through the New Zealand Academy of Sport, to study at a tertiary institute. As a result, I’ve just commenced a four-year degree in Physiotherapy at the Auckland University of Technology’s Akoranga Campus". As well as realising her academic ambitions, Doody, who plays with a knee support as a result of an injury sustained many moons ago, hasn’t done too badly on the soccer fields, either.

"As well as winning the league again with Lynn-Avon, winning our first Uncle Toby’s Women’s Knockout Cup medal was really special - the whole team was ecstatic after an extremely tense final. "The National League was really enjoyable, and well organised, too. I found that, as a competition, it helped me to improve, through playing with good players, and against strong teams each week - winning that was a great thrill". While last April’s trip to Tonga for the Under-19 Women’s World Cup qualifiers ended in disappointment, the time spent in Tonga, according to the ASB Bank’s Young Sportsperson of the Year for women’s soccer, was "an experience in itself". "All the things you take for granted here in New Zealand you had to be extremely careful with - even things like a glass of water. We had a good management team who made sure we did all the right things, however, and that was really appreciated by all the players". The recipient of a SPARC Future Champions award in 2002 is up-beat about the SWANZ prospects across the Tasman in April, and given her own achievements over the past twelve months, the women’s soccer fraternity has every reason to share Rachel Doody’s optimism. "The team, as a whole, has the potential to beat Australia, and I think we’re in with a good chance". The SWANZ take on Baylor University, Texas A&M, University of Texas, West Texas A&M and Texas Tech during their five-match stint in the USA, while success in the Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament across the Tasman will secure the SWANZ a place at the Women’s World Cup Finals, which take place in China during September and October this year.