Football Foster leads the way
‘‘When she says or does something, she leads by example and the group follows.’’
Hamilton teen Michaela Foster is a football captain who came from nowhere and a left back who used to be a winger.
Starting next Saturday, she will lead New Zealand at the Fifa Under17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan, backed by a coach who encouraged her, and a father who knows plenty about high performance sport.
The 17 year old first made a national team in 2014, when Gareth Turnbull picked her for the national schoolgirls side. Up until that point, Michaela had mostly played in attacking roles, but with talented teenage fullbacks in short supply, a position change beckoned.
‘‘I thought her defensive nous, game understanding, and her grounding as an attacking player would suit us well as a fullback who can get forward,’’ says Turnbull.
‘‘We gave her a couple of opportunities on that tour, and after that she came to us and said I’m a left back, I want to play left back, I need to learn this position.’’
Since then, Foster has asserted herself as the best in the position in the country for her age, and was an easy selection for the under-17 squad, which came together for the first time last July, ahead of the Oceania championships - and World Cup qualifiers - which were held in January in the Cook Islands.
For that event, Turnbull and his management team needed to choose a captain. What led them to Michaela - who had no previous experience in the role - was the respect they had seen her earn from her peers.
‘‘When she says or does something, she leads by example and the group follows,’’ says Turnbull.
‘‘It’s an honour enough just being able to wear the fern on my chest, so it’s really cool being able to lead the team out onto the field,’’ Michaela said.
‘‘There’s no need to put myself above others, we’ve got a really good leadership group and we all know our roles and we all help each other. It’s a really good environment to be in.’’
In learning to lead, the 17-year-old Hamiltonian has been able to draw on the experience of her father, Ian Foster, who knows plenty about what is required in top-level sport, having captained the Waikato rugby team in the 90s, and been an assistant coach with the All Blacks since 2012.
‘‘He’s definitely been one of my biggest influences and inspirations in my sports life,’’ said Michaela.