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YV 2000
Mum's The Word For SWANZ Shot-Stopper
by Jeremy Ruane (May 2000)
 The New Zealand women's soccer team, the SWANZ, take to the field for the first time in over nineteen months this week, when they participate in the inaugural Pacific Cup women's tournament in Australia. For goalkeeper Yvonne Vale, however, the wait to pull on her country's green jersey has been even longer.
The last of her five appearances for the SWANZ came against China in Canberra in November 1997, but she had a very special reason for missing both the subsequent Champions Tour of Europe and the USA, and the 1998 Oceania Women's World Cup Qualifying Series in Auckland.
That special reason was the birth of her second child, Jessica being the soon-to-be two-year-old sister of six-year-old Jordan.
Yvonne is one of a rare breed in New Zealand sport these days - a sporting mum who's representing her country at the top level of her chosen sport.
"It's different compared to someone who doesn't have a young family", she says. "Not that I'm complaining, of course! In many ways, it can be a quite advantageous situation. You get to see your kids growing up and, in the case of my youngsters, playing football, which is just fantastic".
 While being a sporting mum does have its benefits, it also has its drawbacks, such as having to make any number of arrangements in order that your sporting interests can take precedence. "It's a big help having an understanding husband, as I do in George. He is more than willing to help share the load. My mum is just fantastic. Her support, as well as that from my in-laws, has always been there for me".
It's thirteen years since Yvonne Van Bakel met George Vale. "I was seventeen, he was twenty-seven, when we met at a soccer social. We went out together for a couple of months, and stayed in regular contact while he was overseas for a couple of years. Upon his return, we got back together again, and we're now coming up on our eighth wedding anniversary.
"Over the last five years, he's been the biggest influence on my soccer career. A goalkeeper himself, he's the one who, come four in the afternoon, if I can't be bothered doing an extra training session, will prompt me along - 'Come on, let's go out there and do an hour or so. Come on, let's do it!!'"
George's assistance as a goalkeeping coach was particularly helpful to Yvonne during a period when she was the second-string 'keeper to Rebecca Rolls, now the wicket-keeper for the New Zealand women's cricket side.
"After sitting on the bench during three of the four games in the 1996 tri-series against Australia and South Korea, then coach Maurice Tillotson explained to me the reasons behind why I wasn't getting more game time.
"Basically it was due to my lack of confidence under the high ball. I'm not the tallest of goalkeepers, and my lack of inches, in relation to this aspect of goalkeeping, was something of which I was quite conscious.
“George's input has helped me overcome that weakness in my game".
 Another dual international from whom the former New Zealand Under-19 representative has learnt a lot and gained much encouragement is softball international Leslie Moore, now Doug Moore's wife, but formerly Leslie King, the SWANZ goalkeeper whom many still regard as New Zealand's best-ever performer in the position. The first, and biggest, influence on Yvonne's career, however, was her family, and her brothers, among them Rob and Gary, both of whom still play the game they love, can take responsibility for starting their li'l sis' on the road to her country's number one jersey.
"Being the only girl in the family, they used to stick me in goal in the back yard and use me for target practice! I loved it!! I was six then, and save for when I was pregnant, haven't stopped playing since.
"I've played at Oratia, Waitemata twice, Massey, West Auckland, Te Atatu and, for the last few years, Lynn-Avon - I'm a real Westie!! That season at Massey, travelling there and back twice a week ... I hated it! I wanted to hang up my gloves at the end of that season - I was seventeen at the time, but the biggest influence on my career advised me to see how I felt at the end of summer ... I'm glad I took my dad's advice.
"He was always there for me, and while he never pushed me, he always made sure I had everything I needed. As you would appreciate, I was quite upset when he passed away in 1993 - he would have loved to see me play in this Pacific Cup tournament in Australia".
Yvonne is confident that the SWANZ will benefit greatly from this tournament. "Everyone wants to beat Australia in our fourth match!! Canada and Japan, our first two games, will be just as challenging, but to be honest, we'll be hard-pressed to win our other two matches. In fact, I think I may well be a tad busy if I'm chosen to play in them!!"
Which is understandable, considering the opposition in those two matches just happen to be the top two nations in the ever-expanding world of women's soccer. Preventing the most prolific markswoman in the world game, the USA's Mia Hamm, and China's Sun Wen, along with their respective team-mates, from hitting the target is far easier said than done.
 "My overall goal for this tournament is, like that of the rest of the squad, quite simple - to go out there and play well. The event as a whole will give us a good indication of where we are at the moment, and what we need to do to improve in order to satisfy our long-term goal - qualification for the 2003 Women's World Cup Finals. "To play in that tournament would be the highlight of my career. Being in the team when we qualify wouldn't rank too far behind it! But in order to fulfil these dreams, I have to stay in contention for a place in the team, and to do that, I have to perform to the best of my ability, and always look to improve the various aspects of my game".
In the meantime, Yvonne will continue to fit her footballing commitments around home life. "I love watching football, especially matches in which Jordan or George or my brothers are playing in. Of course, I love playing myself - I intend to do so for some considerable time yet!
"I'm simply a soccer person, always have been, always will be. I'll still be down at the club when I'm seventy, drinking my pints of orange juice ...! Above all, though, I'm a full-time mum and footballer, and I'm proud of it!!"
NB At the end of the 2000 season, Yvonne was named Auckland Women’s Player of the Year, only the second goalkeeper to claim the trophy, and due recognition of her outstanding efforts for the SWANZ in the Pacific Cup, where she performed heroics to defy, in particular, the USA and China, on numerous occasions. A year later, she was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the conclusion of the 2001 National Women's Soccer Tournament.
And in 2002, Yvonne became the first goalkeeper to claim the Most Valuable Player award in the Uncle Toby's Women's Knockout Cup Final, as she produced a string of outstanding saves to help Lynn-Avon to a 5-3 penalty shoot-out victory over Ellerslie, after two gruelling hours of action produced one of the best scoreless draws you're ever likely to see.
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