Malia Steinmetz is back playing football and living in Auckland. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
After years out of the nest some Football Ferns have moved home with family in the lead-up to the women's Football World Cup which kicks off in July.
This month 26 players will be involved in an intensive five day a week training programme in Auckland which New Zealand Football sees as critical for developing the team ahead of the home world cup.
Next month 11 more players will join them.
Among those players who kicked off the months long build-up at North Harbour Stadium this week were two players who haven't spent significant time in their hometown in years.
Malia Steinmetz and Grace Jale both played their youth football in Auckland and now play professionally in Australia, turning out in the A-League for Western Sydney Wanderers and Canberra United respectively.
In 2019 Steinmetz moved to play for the Northern Tigers a local club side based in Sydney's northern suburbs before signing her first A-League contract with Perth Glory in 2020.
She moved back to New South Wales and signed with Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League in 2021 and remained with the red and blacks for the latest season which wrapped up last weekend.
Being back in New Zealand, living with her family while she focuses on securing a spot in coach Jitka Klimková's world cup squad has brought back a flood of familiarity for the 24-year-old midfielder.
Turning on the radio to hear some hits from her high school days was a welcome way to spend her drive to training and seeing loved ones again is comforting during an important time in her international career.
"You've got your whole support system and you're not on Zoom with them weekly you're actually there with them everyday and it's really nice to have that home feel," Steinmetz says.
If the return home gets too much Steinmetz says she can always visit some of her teammates, who aren't from Auckland, for dinner at their Airbnbs.
"Our connection as a team, as a country and as a culture is one of our big things that we work on and that we do so [this training programme] is definitely a bonding, obviously there will be days we get sick of each other but we get a weekend off and then we'll come back together again like nothing has ever happened."
Steinmetz has played in age-group world cups for New Zealand but has never had the type of build up the Football Ferns have had for the upcoming campaign.
"Usually we only get a few days before games to prepare so the fact that we have weeks, well months, is quite unbelievable so we're really going to take that in and use it."
Being able to be in front of Klimková' every day and having regular discussions is something that Steinmetz is enjoying.
Like Steinmetz, Jale who moved to the capital to play for the Wellington Phoenix in the club's inaugural season in 2021 before switching to Canberra United on a two year deal, is also living back at home.
Grace Jale has been around the Football Ferns since she was a teenager Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
After coming back across the Tasman, Jale says not much has changed in her hometown but she is now a different footballer.
"I think Canberra was a really good move for me personally and I was surrounded by much more experienced players like Michelle Heyman, she's a legend, and Ellie Brush also a legend and all of these players around me who are a similar age but had been a part of the league for a while now so it was less pressure on my back [than being at the Phoenix].
"I built my confidence a little bit more."
With players fighting for places in the final 23-woman squad and the Football Ferns in need of goalscorers for the 32-team tournament Jale knows what she wants to show Klimková' during the intensive training period.
"I want to add a bit of creativity. I want to be a big presence, obviously I am tall and different looking to everyone else in the team which is a positive, I want to add that extra bit of grit and hopefully some goals which is what we really need so I'm working on it."
Scoring a goal in the world cup opener against Norway at Eden Park on 20 July is on Jale's radar even if it's not her who breaks the team's scoring drought.
"The more time that we spend out there the connections will grow and get stronger and I hope we can do those little things like not having to look for someone before passing and just the one percenters that help everyone out.
"I'm just hoping that the time together translates and everyone else here wants that too."
During the training programme the Football Ferns will play intra-squad games and matches against boys teams to replicate the side's Group A opponents.
"Training and implementing new ideas at international level is always challenging because of the short amount of time we have together as a squad during international windows, especially for the Ferns when travel takes a significant amount of time for most games," Klimková' says.
"This is why this two-month period together can be so significant for the team to really look to instill the playing style and performance level we want if we are going to play at the level I know we can."
