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June 24, 2002 Two leading Kiwi women's soccer stars head to China by Jeremy Ruane On June 16th, Maia Jackman one of the most decorated players in the history of New Zealand women's soccer bid a winning farewell to her local club scene. She was leaving to fulfill a three-month contract to play professionally in the fledgling Chinese Women's League. Maia Jackman assisted her Ellerslie club to a 3-0 victory over Takapuna in the quarter-final of the Uncle Toby's Women's Knockout Cup, a competition which the talented and speedy midfielder has made her personal crusade in the last decade. That national competition has been in existence since 1994, and in that time Jackman has amassed four winners' medals, plus two Most Valuable Player of the Final awards. Her dedication to both her sport and personal well-being have meant Jackman has reached a stage in her career where the challenge offered by the local game is no longer enough to sustain her footballing development. Jackman is one of ten players invited worldwide to take part in the new league, which consists of teams from Sichuan, Dalian, Guangdong, Shanghai, Beijing and Jiangsu, and will run for three months. The former Eden, Lynn-Avon United and Three Kings United star will be joined in China by another former Three Kings team-mate, Simone Ferrara, who is based in California, and has been playing for Southern California Ajax in recent months. She was the leading goalscorer at the 2000 National Women's Soccer Tournament but hardly played any football in 2001 while she recovered from a serious knee injury. With New Zealand not having played a women's international now for over two years, and only five internationals since October 1998, the importance of this breakthrough for Jackman and Ferrara, in terms of their personal career development, cannot be over-emphasised. Both relish the chance afforded them through these short-term professional contracts. Jackman and Ferrara are the first New Zealand women's soccer stars to play professionally abroad, bearing in mind that only the now defunct league in Japan was near to being a true professional league until WUSA came into existence in the USA last year. During their stint in China, Jackman will play for the Dalian team, while Ferrara, who was attending the Men's World Cup Finals in Korea when the call came to head to China, will turn out for Shanghai. Further information on both players, and on New Zealand women's soccer generally, can be found at www.ultimatenzsoccer.com, The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website.