Carr’s drive insatiable

 

February 15 2007

Shepparton News

Wes Cusworth: Megan, you resumed training with Shepparton United just three weeks after the birth of your second child. That's quite an outstanding achievement, it must have been a little risky for you.

Megan Carr: No, not really. I spoke to George (Traianidis) and went down to see what I could do. I took it fairly easy the first training session, but I still had a bit of touch and was feeling pretty good so then I just started training with the girls.

WC: When you say you had a little bit of touch, of course you played soccer for quite some time, take us back to your origins in the game.

MC: I started soccer back in Sydney and just loved the game and so just kept playing and then when we moved to Shepparton.

I found a team in United and a great bunch of friends there, so I continued on playing and haven't looked back.

WC: A lot of people will be interested in the fact that you resumed so quickly after the birth of your second child. What about when your first child - Jamie, who is now four - was born? How long did you wait after that before you started pre-season training?

MC: A little bit longer than three weeks. Because we were new to the town I actually rang up The News and started training with the NESL open women's squad. So it was probably about eight or nine weeks after Jamie was born. I was looking for something else, and I had a bit of a train and started playing with the NESL representative squad for Shepparton.

WC: During the time you've been in Shepparton you've called United home and I believe you bleed royal blue. They're all pretty passionate out there at Central Park, aren't they?

MC: Yeah, they are. It's certainly a different culture to the soccer in Sydney. But the club has been really good to me and they're a great bunch of girls. I was really happy with my decision to go out there and have made a lot of friends. I wouldn't dream of playing anywhere else.

WC: I believe during the course of season 2006 - prior to the birth of young Mikayla - you were fairly vigorous and fairly active on the sidelines. They had to keep a lid on you to a certain extent?

MC: Yeah, it was a tough nine months being pregnant throughout the season, but we just couldn't work it in between seasons. So it was really hard being on the sidelines. I helped George coach the girls and used to go down to training. I helped on game day a little bit too, with team managing and stuff like that. So it was tough and I was really glad to have Mikayla, to get back out there and train, and get a bit of a gig in the semi-final last year as well.

WC: What was particularly remarkable was that Mikayla's birth was a caesarean and I suppose that must have taken a fair bit of effort for you to overcome that procedure and resume being able to do anything physical?

MC: It wasn't that hard. Jamie was a caesarean as well, but after a long labour. I actually found it easier to recover after Mikayla, so I was up and about and doing things. I felt pretty good, so that's when I went back to training.

WC: What sort of considerations did you need to keep in mind? Were you asking the girls to keep you in cotton wool and look after you or did they pretty much just treat you like a normal teammate?

MC: Like any other normal teammate. Obviously my fitness wasn't there, but they still encouraged me and I think they think I'm a bit crazy, but soccer's in my blood and I just couldn't stay on the sidelines.

Read the rest of Wes Cusworth's chat with Megan Carr in a future edition of The News.