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Role Model
Role Model Maia Targets Olympic Dream - After A Rest!
by Jeremy Ruane (October 2003)
background photo of Maia in action in the 2003 Uncle Toby's Women's Knockout Cup Final courtesy Kevin Clarke Photography - www.kevinclarkephotography.co.nz
The clock had chimed ten times before Maia Jackman finally got home one recent Wednesday night.
The New Zealand women's soccer star had devoted her evening flying the flag for her sport as the guest speaker and presenter at a local school prizegiving. "It's something I get paid for occasionally, but I'm more than happy to do it for nothing", says the twenty-eight-year-old 'face' of the women's game in this country, who had a similar function lined up twenty-four hours later, in Hamilton.
While our sporting favourites are most noted for their performances on any given weekend, and their praises are duly sung or otherwise as a result of their efforts, what isn't often seen by the public are these instances of the star turn setting aside his or her own time to give something back to the community.
It's this willingness to give of herself so freely and with such humility which makes Maia Jackman such a fine ambassador and role model for women's soccer, and women's sport in New Zealand as a whole.
It's something she even carries over into matches, perhaps most memorably in this season's Uncle Toby's Women's Knockout Cup Final, when, despite the Ellerslie side she was captaining finding themselves on the wrong end of a good old-fashioned hiding from Lynn-Avon United, Jackman still found time to apply her physiotherapy skills to aid an opponent's recovery from injury late in the match.
When she's got a ball at her feet and a nervous opposition to run at, however, humility comes a distant second to generally wreaking havoc amongst panic-stricken defenders, all in the interests of creating a scoring opportunity for herself or her team-mates!
Southern Soccer can well testify to those attributes, having witnessed at first-hand a typically dynamic attacking display by Jackman during their National Women's Soccer League encounter with Auckland-Manukau on Labour Day.
The number seven scored twice and unselfishly set up team-mate Zoe Thompson's first goal for the "A Team", as the defending champions ground out a 4-0 win over the visitors, but Maia had her own reasons for producing a strong performance in that match.
"That was very much a case of get even, not get angry", says the forty-eight-times-capped Auckland star. "After sitting out Saturday's game at Central Soccer, I wanted to show those with a need to know that I don't get put off by such treatment, even though I was far from happy at being on the end of it.
"As well as helping Auckland's cause in the National Women's League, I really want to do well in the competition personally, but for some reason, I always seem to fall short - perhaps it's the timing of it, given it comes at the end of a long season".
Anyone who witnessed Jackman's stunning individual performance for the "A Team" in their thrilling 2-2 draw with Canterbury in Christchurch during the inaugural National Women's League campaign will know how potent she can be.
But by her own admission, the star hasn't had the most consistent of seasons in 2003, at either club or provincial level. "Some games have been OK-ish, while in others I've felt I just haven't clicked at all! It hasn't been vintage Maia, that's for sure - I've been a bit lacking.
"What it comes down to is I've got to a point where I'm pretty stale, to be honest. I haven't really had a rest since I got back from China last year. I was straight into the inaugural National Women's League upon my return, and following that were the preparations and training for the SWANZ trip to the USA and Canberra, where the Women's World Cup qualifying tournament took place.
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"Upon returning home, it was straight into league and cup action with Ellerslie, and the way things panned out with the scheduling of matches, the club season went on a lot longer than usual. And a couple of weeks after its conclusion, we were straight into this season's National League competition.
"So after the final whistle in our match against Canterbury last Saturday, I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks of doing absolutely nothing - not that that's ever possible with me!! But I know I'm way overdue a rest! However, you can guarantee that once I've recharged my batteries, I'll be itching to get back into action".
The highlight on Jackman's calendar in 2004, at this point in time, is the SWANZ Olympic qualifying campaign, which centres around the qualifying tournament in Vanuatu in March. "My biggest childhood dream was to represent New Zealand at the Olympics, and to have the opportunity to realise that in Athens next August ... it really would be a dream come true for me", says the player who has played twenty-one times for New Zealand on the international stage.
"Of course, to do so, we have to get past the old enemy, but we're not that far behind Australia, make no mistake. From our experiences in Canberra, the girls know just how close we are - we're itching for the chance to finally knock them over once again".
Jackman's own experiences in Canberra were, unbeknown to anyone at the time, of the history-making variety. While her tally of ten goals - from three hat-tricks - saw her finish as the tournament's leading goalscorer, it was only following later research by this writer that it was discovered this was the first instance of any player in the history of soccer in this country scoring hat-tricks for New Zealand in three consecutive full international matches.
It's a feat which earned Maia, wth fellow Auckland and New Zealand team-mate Hayley Moorwood, a share of The Jeremy Ruane Trophy, an excellence honour awarded in recogition of meritorious achievement by a team or individual from the Northern Women's Soccer region.
Jackman won the trophy outright in 2002, its inaugural season, for her efforts in being rated the best of the ten imported players in the Chinese Women's Super League that season by the league's coaches, and she is pleased to report that she has not been forgotten by the organisers in China.
"I'm in regular contact with them, and they are still keen for me to go back there. At this stage, I'm playing it by ear, and by body!!" she chuckles, the aches and pains of another season of rigorous physical activity on the lean frame of this superbly conditioned soccer star never far from her thoughts.
"It would be good to do something like I did in China one more time. However, for the effort and commitment it entails, I think that one more season playing professionally would be just about the limit my body could take.
"It would certainly be good to hang up my boots and go out on a high like that", declares the hugely talented Jackman, who recently announced her engagement to Waikato Titans basketball star Prem Krishna.
Meantime, New Zealand women's soccer's foremost role model, having helped the "A Team" become the first team to complete the National Women's Soccer League - Challenge Cup double, is in contention for more silverware - no less an award than the Sport Auckland Sportswoman of the Year.
Being party to such success would be a memorable way for Maia Jackman to crown what has been, by her own high standards, something of a mixed bag of a year on the footballing front. But given how much she gives of herself on and off the field in the interests of women's soccer, it's a success few would begrudge one of the true stars of New Zealand sport.
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