As part of Girls and Women's Week we caught up with Taranaki & NZU17 defender Mackenzie Barry.

Being selected for the NZU17 squad doesn’t come without a lot of hard work can you share your journey to that point?
I started playing football for my primary school when I was around 6 years old.  From about age 10 I trained and played in the Taranaki Reps programme, which lead me into the Central Federation Team when I was about 12 years old. I also competed in gymnastic competitions for about 7 years, which built up my strength and flexibility. 
I joined the Girls’ High 1st XI when I was year 9 and continued to train and play for them until the end of year 13. I thoroughly enjoyed playing in this environment with my school friends, however as I live in New Plymouth, the training level was understandably not as high as what other players from the NZU17 squad received.  At the start of last year I was lucky enough to be allowed to train with two New Plymouth boys school teams.  This didn’t always work out as they would have many ‘team based’ trainings that I could not attend.  This meant my training journey was considerably different to some of the other NZU17 girls as sometimes I would have to train a couple of times a week by myself as well as one or two school level trainings.  I also played for our Central Women's Team in the National Women’s League for three years.  Although we lost this league last year, it gave me further experience in defending national league women which was good preparation. The motivation I gained from being determined to be selected in the NZU17 squad, drove me to train four times a week, no matter what environment I was in, attend gym twice a week and play hard for my school team while always keeping the bigger picture in mind, The World Cup. 

It was your first World Cup how did you find the experience?
The experience of the World Cup was amazing.  It was extremely professional with police escorts and our own team bus.  The games were also very tough and we didn’t know what to expect as going by past results we didn’t anticipate progressing out of the Group Stage.  During every game at some stage I was ready to collapse because I was so exhausted.
It was a very special experience that I was so grateful to have spent with my team members.  We all became very close friends during the World Cup which made the experience so much more enjoyable.  After attending my first World Cup, I am now aiming to be a part of the next one. 

There has been a lot of talk about how the team unity & togetherness was so good what do you feel contributed to this? 
The unity and togetherness was extremely good on this tour.  We had four players who had attended the NZU20 World Cup earlier that year.  These girls were leaders and knew what to expect the World Cup to be like.  They knew the importance of unity within a team at these higher levels so helped us bond. As I was the only player from my region I did not have any particularly close friends when trainings began in January.  However, by the time we left for Uruguay I felt included in the team as there was a strong sense of whanaungatanga. 

The team created history on so many occasions, what areas to do you feel attributed to this? 
One of the biggest areas that contributed to this was the major support we had from not only each other but also our family members.  A concept known as ‘First Boat, second boat’ was introduced to our team.  This concept was to highlight the importance of the ‘second boat’ which were the substitutes.  The first boat cannot move or function without the support from the second boat.  It meant we all relied upon each other and that the starting team could not play at its peak without the second boat yelling and supporting us throughout the game.  The support we had from our families was also necessary in helping us create history.  Every game a large crowd of parents and other family members from New Zealand would be in the stands yelling,  cheering and waving around NZ flags.  My Dad was a part of this group and he definitely gave me extra motivation and made me feel more relaxed when I was playing. 

There were so many amazing moments what was some of your favourite ones?
My two favourite moments would have to be beating Japan in penalties and when the final whistle blew to end our play-off game for 3rd and 4th against Canada.  We fought extremely hard in the Japan game and came out with a 1-1 draw which was unheard of in New Zealand football history.  When Anna scored her penalty, we sprinted off the half way line and I couldn’t have been more proud of our team.  Beating Japan and moving into the Semi-finals had never been done before.
During the final 5 minutes of the 3rd and 4th play off against Canada the score was 2-1 and Canada was pressing extremely high.  They were determined to score a goal to equalise.  However, when the final whistle blew our hard work had paid off.  I was so exhausted and it felt like everything leading up to this moment, all my trainings over the years had been worth it.  We all couldn’t believe it. 

What was it like standing on the podium receiving a bronze medal knowing you were the first team in NZ history to do this? 
It was an incredible feeling as we had all worked so hard for this.  Not only had we received a bronze medal at a World Cup, but we were the first ever team in NZ to do so.  It felt extremely surreal and I was beyond grateful to have been offered this opportunity.  I was stoked to be part of the team that made history. 

What advice do you have for players across our federation who have ambitions to play for New Zealand? 
It can challenging coming from Central as it is such a spread out region and being able to train constantly at a high level without having to travel 3-5 hours each way is difficult.  My advice for anybody who has the ambitions to play would be to work hard, stay determined and stay focused on your goal. But most importantly don’t forget to enjoy it!  My love for football definitely helped me achieve my goal.