Flag bearer: Mya Needham back middle carries a flag with six others at the Japan v Zambia clash in Hamilton last Saturday. Photos Niki Needham
Talented King Country footballer Mya Needham is undertaking an incredible opportunity.
She is a flag bearer for three games at the Women’s Football World Cup, on now in Australia and New Zealand.
Mya lined up alongside a group of other young footballers on Saturday at the Japan and Zambia contest in Hamilton. She will do the same thing when Portugal face Vietnam today, and when Argentina battle Sweden on August 2. These matches will take part at Hamilton Stadium.
“I am looking forward to being a flag bearer for the next two games that are played at Waikato Stadium.
“Saturday was really exciting meeting new people, the crowd was amazing and just so cool to be a part of it all.”
Mya is football mad and to help progress in the sport, she has headed to Te Awamutu College for her secondary schooling.
The chance to become a flag bearer came about through her school football coach.
“It was something we couldn’t pass up. What an awesome opportunity to be part of something like this.”
Although the flag bearers are not seen on television screens, they’re visible to the thousands of fans watching the action live.
Before Saturday’s clash, which was won by Japan 5-0, they staged a training run earlier in the day.
Mya’s mum, Niki, has been chaperoning the flag bearers so she has been able to watch the games live.
“It’s been awesome. It’s just such a fantastic opportunity for Mya and she is absolutely loving it.”
Not everyone who was nominated became a flag bearer, so considers her daughter very lucky to have been chosen.
Mya’s favourite footballer is United States player Alex Morgan. She had been hoping to watch her live last weekend but was unable to due to her flag bearing commitments.
“If she said no to doing that game, she would have missed out on doing all the games, so unfortunately, we weren’t able to watch Alex in action,” Niki said.
Mya hopes she will get another chance to see Morgan play live, otherwise, she will have to be satisfied with watching her on television.
The World Cup caps off a busy year of football and opportunities for Mya, who in March spent two-and-a-half weeks in Spain playing football. She got to tour and train at the home ground of Valencia CF and watched a game in their 45,000-seater stadium.
She also managed to meet some of Valencia’s players, something she said was an amazing opportunity.
The Spanish side ranks alongside Liverpool as her favourite teams.
Niki said the trip to Spain helped improve Mya’s football a lot.
“She picked up so many new skills and it has really helped her football grow.”
