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Doctor Soccer Mom
Paging Doctor “Soccer Mom”!
by Jeremy Ruane
She's been inside them so often this century that it's a wonder Simone Carmichael hasn't opened her own hospital!
The 2005 New Zealand International Women's Player of the Year has certainly seen her fair share of doctors and nurses in recent years while receiving treatment for a variety of major injuries, any one of which would prompt most people to consider giving the game away.
One of those visits was for far happier reasons, as we will soon discover. In late 2000, however, anything but! The dreaded anterior cruciate ligament tear, a cruel blow suffered while trialling for the inaugural Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) league, took eighteen months to recover from.
Then, after a stint as a professional in the 2002 Chinese Women's Super League, the lively midfielder suffered a shoulder dislocation just prior to New Zealand's 2003 Women's World Cup qualifying campaign in Australia.
After playing through the pain barrier for a few months for both her country and her club team, Ajax America, Miss Ferrara, as she was then known, was out of action for a further six months following the corrective surgery necessary to right that particular wrong.
Surely nothing more could go awry? Oh yes it could! The next visit to hospital saw repairs made to a torn medial cruciate ligament … if you're getting the impression this Howick native doesn't do things by halves, you're right!
Fortunately, Simone's fourth visit to hospital, in September 2006, was not one which required surgery. When she checked out, she and husband Pete were smitten with their first-born, Kaitlyn, and nothing has changed in that regard in the nine months since that momentous occasion.
“Motherhood is the most amazing thing ever”, declared Simone about her new vocation while in Auckland for the recent international series against Canada. “I can't really describe it to anybody who hasn't had kids or has never been a mother. It makes you appreciate your mum and your parents so much more. It's incredible - just watching her develop and change and grow”.
With Kaitlyn chortling quietly on her lap, one of the most recent additions to the increasing number of football-playing parents then outlined what life is like as a `Soccer Mom'.
“Playing soccer is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but it's do-able. Your focus is a little bit different - it's hard to stay as focused as you were before. In the beginning I wanted to bring Kaitlyn with me when I played, but it's so much better having her away from me when I'm playing so I can concentrate on the game.
“It's a lot easier to play without a kid than having to worry about one, because your whole focus can be you. But with a baby, you're constantly thinking about her - it's not about you anymore - so that's been really hard”.
As for playing, so, too, with training. “I always have to have somebody to watch her. I just can't pack up and go and train anymore - I have to make sure that she's taken care of before I do that.
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“I've got a great husband in Pete. He's not in Auckland this time - he's got to hold down the fort at home and bring in the bucks so I can travel! He knows the World Cup is my dream and he wants me to go for it - he's so excited about it, too. I couldn't do it without him.
“It allows him to have time with Kaitlyn as well. And my parents, Linda and Mario, have been great. Indeed, the family all chips in and helps with her when I'm away or training.
“All told, it's not about me, it's about Kaitlyn, and when there's time for me, I get to go do it. It's hard, certainly, but I wouldn't trade it in for anything”.
Five months after giving birth, Simone was back sporting the silver fern, playing against Australia in Canberra. Returning to the national team provided challenges she hadn't anticipated.
“Coming back from motherhood was so weird! I don't know how to describe it, 'cause having stayed pretty fit throughout my pregnancy, and resuming as soon as I could after giving birth, I thought I could just come back, and that it would be no problem.
“Hence in Australia, I thought I was ready to play, but I wasn't. That was really frustrating for me, because I thought I was there, but my body wasn't ready. Pregnancy does crazy things to your body, in terms of shifting things, and … I had no idea! That was really hard.
“During the qualifiers in Papua New Guinea, though, I felt like I was back to myself, and my body felt normal again, and there was nothing hindering my game …”
It could only mean one thing - time for another trip to hospital! “I don't think I can ever stay away from them!! For some reason, I'm there at the most important times. My ACL was prior to the try-outs, and now my Achilles tendon, just months out from the World Cup.
“An Achilles injury is something that happens to someone who isn't fit and goes into training intensely and isn't ready to do it, or has tendonitis, or something like that. So this was really random. After returning home to Los Angeles from PNG, I was doing a sprint workout with US women's international Cat Whitehill, and it just snapped!
“There was no indication of it happening at all. I guess it was an unlucky thing. There was an association with tendons snapping and the malaria pills I had to take in PNG due to nursing Caitlin, so that's the only explanation that any of the doctors can figure out. The frustrating thing with this injury is I finally felt like I was back”.
The just turned thirty-year-old is determined to fulfil her World Cup and Olympics dreams, but knows one thing after this latest setback. “It's going to be tight. I saw Mark Fulcher, the team doctor, a couple of days ago. It's typically a four-to-six month recovery, but it's possible. I'm hoping I can do it, and I'm going to give it all I have, so we'll see”.
In light of her catalogue of major injuries over the years, adding to her eighteen caps in China would be a huge career highlight for this Kiwi “Soccer Mom”.
Not to mention avoiding further hospital visits!
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