I COULD FEEL THE PASSION

The ISPS Handa Women's Premiership kicked off last weekend. Ahead Capital Football's first home game this Saturday I got the chance to sit down and chat with new Capital Football coach, Maia Vink.

Capital Football Coach Maia Vink

"I could feel the passion from a really young age” Maia Vink tells me when discussing how she ended up coaching the Capital Football Women’s National League Team. 

Having two older brothers, Tao & Jerone, who played football, gave Maia her first introduction to playing at seven years old. While she went on to excel as a player achieving recognition and representative honours at all age groups for Mainland, her school, Marian College and making the New Zealand U17 team, the passion she is talking about is her passion for coaching. From an early age she had a PE teacher, Cathy Seeward, who from the outset got her involved in coaching. 

After doing so well and achieving so much as a youngster and being involved in the NZ U17 squad for four years as New Zealand built up to hosting the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup in 2008, Maia knew as a player she probably wasn’t going to make the final cut and despite being offered a scholarship in the USA (without even applying) she realised then that playing at the highest level wasn’t her future. This led to a falling out of love with the game but thanks to having been involved with coaching from an early age, the passion was still there, Maia decided to take a different route. She did a Bachelor in Sport and Commerce at Canterbury University and landed a job at Coastal Spirit as a club development officer, working with Gareth Turnbull and Analie Longo, both of whom she describes as fundamental to her development as a coach. She currently holds a UEFA B licence and is awaiting the results of the NZ \ OFC A-Licence course she attended recently.

A desire to see the world saw her make use of her Dutch passport and she moved to FC Eindhoven and became involved with coaching at their academy. Then a call from a fellow Kiwi coach, Natalie Lawerence, who Maia knew from coaching at NZ’s National Talent Centres (NTC) saw her move to fully professional side Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada and join Natalie and Football Fern, Emma Humphries. 

At the Whitecaps as well as fellow Kiwi’s Lawerence and Humphries, Maia was lucky enough to work with what she calls “powerful football minds” including John Herdman (ex Ferns, Canada Women’s & now Canada Men’s boss) and Bev Priestman (now Canada Women’s boss). She was also working full time at a professional academy which gave her great insight and increased her development as a coach over the three years she was there.

 

Since taking over the head coach role at Capital, Maia has bought a new approach and has copied the successful Canterbury United Pride model. Gathering a large training squad together during the winter once a week. While she acknowledges it is asking a lot of the players who will also likely have at least two club trainings a week, as well as possibly school and Futsal training, she is very conscious of her and Capital Football’s player welfare responsibilities, although feels it is necessary if the players want to reach the next level.

 

When asked about her coaching philosophy, Maia says that what attracts her the most is the character side of the players and she focuses on connecting with the personal side of each player as well as the tactical and aims to get the best from them and work out how they can contribute to the whole team. As well as that when asked about the challenges Women face in the world of football she say’s it’s important to ensure that Women have not just encouragement but wrap around support for their ambitions.

This approach seems to be paying off. Last week Capital started their ISPS Handa Women’s premiership campaign with a 1-1 away draw with last year’s finalists Northern Lights. On a very patchy pitch Northern Lights dominated in the first half but Capital’s keeper Georgia Candy was outstanding and kept the score to just 1-0 down at the break. Capital then clawed their way back into the game and debutant Kayley Ward equalised in the 89^th minute and Capital were unlucky not to steal the three points in added time.

Capital take on Southern United at Petone Memorial Park on Saturday, Kick off 1pm. The game will also be streamed on Sky Sport Next (Youtube)