Malorie Harris
RNC patrol officer and competitive soccer player
“Girls will be girls on the field. They’re not like men. They take things personally and they hold it against you. They hate you and then there’s drama and there’s fighting,”
Malorie Harris has been kicking around a soccer ball since she was able to walk and she’ll be doing so until she’s not able to do either.
“I won’t stop playing until I physically can’t play anymore,” she says.
Harris plays with Kirby United. Her dedication to the game and to her potential at it has gotten her attention over the years. So have her feelings toward women in the sport.
“Girls will be girls on the field. They’re not like men. They take things personally and they hold it against you. They hate you and then there’s drama and there’s fighting,” she says.
Harris has made such feelings known before including in Telegram articles, but she’s not trying to raise dust over the issue. She’s just calling it as she sees it.
“I’m not signalling out anybody in particular. That’s just the case and there’s no denying it,” she says. “I’m there to play soccer. If I have an issue with somebody, I don’t take it on the field. It’s not a personal thing for me.”
When speaking with her, you get the feeling Harris hasn’t been letting anything get in the way of her getting better at the game. She has had coaches claim she hasn’t been given the opportunities she should have been given to prove herself on the national level. As with most sports, there’s the tyranny of the clock that plagues an athlete trying to take their sports career to the next level. However much higher the hurdles are getting for Harris to get a shot playing Canadian nationals, she’s just as dedicated and driven to making it happen as ever.
1What is your full name? Malorie Terri-Lee Harris.
2Where were you born? At the Grace hospital in St. John’s.
3What is your profession? I am a street patrol officer with the RNC.
4 What made you want to join the force? I don’t know if anything in particular did. I just know growing up when kids think about what they want to be when they get older I always wanted to be a firefighter or a police officer.
5 What’s the toughest thing about your job? At the beginning it was patience. You got to have the patience of a god pretty much to deal with the types of people that you deal with. (People) who have addictions and who have family or marital issues. Having to try to be that neutral person and not pass judgement at all. It’s really tough. Not so much the judgmental part for me because I don’t judge people but having the patience to deal with people who are going through issues, I think that was the toughest thing starting out.
6 What has been your greatest act of rebellion? I’ll blame it on my cousins. Back when I was 11 years old I did what the older and cool kids did and I drank and I smoked. I was 11 and I got drunk off so many beer and then I threw my guts up. I didn’t touch a beer then again until I was 22 or 23 years old.
7 What is your favourite meal? You ask anyone and they don’t know why I am the size I am because I eat my face off. And I will eat anything. Poutine is my go-to. Hamburgers are my absolute favourite food. Have a burger with a poutine on the side and I’m your friend for life.
8 What has been your scariest moment? There can be moments on the job. There can be some close calls.
9 What has been the most uplifting moment in your life? Actually getting my badge. I went through that full year program and it wasn’t difficult by any means, but it was still trying and difficult in a way. Getting that badge and knowing that I am set and I am where I want to be pretty much.
10 What has been your biggest regret? That’s an easy one. Not going away on my scholarship in 2005 when I graduated high school. If I had taken that scholarship I would probably be in a better position soccer wise. I probably would have been noticed more. It was a full four-year soccer scholarship for Texas and El Paso University. I was thinking of doing that. I had a boyfriend at the time and there’s other factors obviously. So eventually I turned it down. In a way I do regret it, but then I don’t because I’m still where I want to be. I regret it in a soccer sense though because it could have helped me had a chance at the national team or gotten my name out there more.
11 What is it that you love about soccer so much?
I love the competitiveness. With soccer you’ve got your team base and then you’ve got your individual competitiveness. What keeps me going is that if someone beats me then I’m gonna work 10 times harder to beat them because I don’t like to be beat. And then you’ve got your camaraderie and your friendships. Individually I shine, I guess, but I can’t do it without my teammates.
12 Who inspires you and why? Some people have that one person who inspires them but, me, I don’t have a certain person. My teammates inspire me because they’re the ones who push me to work harder. Without them there would be no sport. Them along with me. I am my hardest critic and my biggest critic. I work harder for me and for my team.
13 What is your most treasured possession? There are things that have been passed down through the generations, but I don’t personally have them because my mother hasn’t given them to me yet because she doesn’t want me to lose them. When I win a medal at nationals, that will be my most treasured possession.
14 Outside of work and soccer, what do you like to do with your time? Anything that keeps me having fun. I’ll never turn down hanging with my girlfriends. Going to movies. Going to eat is probably No. 1. Having a few drinks, Anything that keeps me out of the house.
15 If you could spend a day with one person, alive or otherwise, who would it be? Michale Jackson. I had tickets to go see him in London, England, and I was so excited. I’m obsessed with his music. He ruined that for me. I was devastated. I actually found out that he had died after a soccer game in Bowring Park after I had rolled my ankle. So I was off watching the rest of the game with a busted ankle pretty much crying and my boyfriend at the time comes and tells me, and I was not happy.
16 What has been your greatest accomplishment? Besides the RNC, soccer wise I tried out for the Canadian university national team. I tried out for it along with hundreds of other girls across the country and I ended up making the Top 30 and I thought for sure because I had such a good tryout and I felt really good about it, I thought I was going to make the team. But I didn’t. I made the Top 30. But still, that in and of itself is one of my biggest accomplishments for soccer.
17 If you could be an animal, which would you be? I’d wanna be a tiger. I love, love, love, love tigers.
18 Who is your favourite soccer player? The one I look up to now is Christine Sinclair. She is what I want to be. I want to be in her position. I want to play with her and I think I can, but getting the opportunity is a different thing.
19 If you had a life motto, what would it be? I don’t have a life motto, but my thing is to be happy and don’t stress. I know that’s easier said than done for some people, but I don’t stress over things. I try and be happy. It’s like that saying, ‘You only live once.’ So if there’s something I wanna do I’m gonna do it. I don’t let things like work or money hold me back.
20 What is something you still want to accomplish? Canadian national team. I’m 28 years old. I know it’s probably never going to happen, but there’s no sense in not being able to try. I’m still gonna work toward it. I’m still working out. I’m trying to get faster and stronger.