Charlotte Eagle’s goalkeeping career looks set to take flight. Eagle, the latest in a line of female goalkeepers from the WaiBOP region making their mark, recently returned from a camp where she worked with some of New Zealand’s best young female footballing talent.  

Earlier this year, Charlotte was invited to take part in an ID game in Cambridge for New Zealand Football’s U17 age group. Following the game Charlotte was selected to attend October’s NZF U17 training camp, which was moved to Christchurch due to Auckland’s continuing lockdown. 

“The atmosphere of the camp was amazing. Every girl was fighting for a chance to represent their country and, although the tension on the pitch was high, off the pitch everyone was kind and welcoming,” said Charlotte as she reflected on her experience. 

“Training at an elite level with professional coaches was really fun. Each exercise was challenging in its own way and the coaches really pushed me to extend my limits and show what I'm capable of.”

While not meteoric, Charlotte’s rise has been steady due to a combination of her own hunger to learn and the work she has put in with a range of goalkeeping mentors. 

“In 2016 I started playing football at Taupo AFC. At the first training the coach asked if anyone wanted to play in goal, so I put my hand up along with five others. We were going to take turns. It turned out I wasn’t that terrible,” explained Charlotte in her rather under-stated manner. 

“I continued to play every week, with three years in the grades before joining the Taupo U13 federation team, where I was one of two girls in the boy’s team.” 

During that season Charlotte signed up for goalkeeper training with WaiBOP’s Seamus Casey. “This is where I got my first proper goalkeeper training. I originally started training with him at WaiBOP Taupo goalkeeping clinic as well as traveling to Rotorua to train with goalkeepers up there on a different night during the week. 

“While I was playing for the fed team, I was selected to trial for the WAIBOP U13 training group. Shortly after trailing I was then selected for the U14 NAGT team instead.”

It was all change for Charlotte in 2020 when she started high school. “I moved to Hamilton Girls’ High as a Year 9 as a boarder and signed up to trial for the school’s junior football teams. I was selected for the senior 1st XI instead,” said Charlotte. “Moving to Hamilton for
school also meant a change of clubs. I went from playing in an all-boys team in Taupo to playing for an all-girls team at Melville United.” 

Charlotte continued her goalkeeper training, both with Seamus at the WaiBOP Goalkeeping Academy and as part of other programmes. She has also been offered great opportunities with her club. “During the school holidays I have also taken part in the WaiBOP Goalkeeper Holiday programme as well as programmes with InGoal and, recently, One Stop Goalkeeping. At Melville I have gone to both the national U19 tournament in Napier and the U17 tournament at Western Springs in Auckland.”