Guyana-born Charmaine Hooper is Canadian football icon
… considers seeing 2003 Kashif & Shanghai championships
By Gary H. Tim and Joe Chapman in U.S.A.
Guyana Chronicle
November 23, 2003
IT IS the second day of October, 2003, and Charmaine Elizabeth Hooper’s header has just snatched an unexpected victory from her fancied Chinese rivals. Her goal in the first half of the game was against the run-of-play in that last match of a double-header. She played a true skipper’s game, marshalling the defence and overlapping to strike success in that quarter-final. It was enough to take the challenge to know more about this visually awesome sporting figure.
The Georgetown-born Canadian women’s captain gleefully recalled growing up in South Ruimveldt Gardens and attending Sacred Heart R.C. School. Born on January 15, 1968, she is the eldest daughter of four children parented by Ivan and Myrna Hooper. And she has always been driven by sports.
“I remember playing cricket in Guyana … it is the national sport, so it was natural for me, even though I was a girl,” she recalled.
This revelation led to an enquiry about her relationship to former West Indies cricket captain, Carl Hooper. “Carl is my father’s brother’s son …I think you say first cousin in Guyana, ugh! I’ve learnt about his exploits and he follows mine and my brother’s, but it’s tough to catch up ‘cause of our hectic careers,” the Aquarian said in the mid-morning discourse, a few days after visiting FIFA’s nerve centre in Zurich.
Almost 27 years ago when she left Guyana with her family, she least expected her legs to carry the soccer hopes of Canada, a nation of 20 million. Now, expectations are stimulating her drive to success. Eventually, her women’s national team accomplished more than its male counterparts, including her older brother, Lyndon, who played midfield for nearly a decade.
“I grew up inspired by Lyndon … whatever he did, I did,” she offered with a chuckle. a``He played cricket, I played cricket … he did tennis, I did too. Then he did soccer and started moving up the competitive ladder, I wanted to do the same thing,” Hooper said.
“But at that time, there wasn’t any professional women’s soccer, so it wasn’t something I could aspire to do. But, when I got out of college, there was a coach from Norway looking for semi-professional players, and my name was given, so that’s how it started. I knew I had big goals to score.”
And, she scored more. Together, Charmaine and Lyndon became the first brother and sister to play on Canadian national football teams.
Today, at almost 36 years, she is on the threshold of being one of the most decorated players, ever.
With a glut of Most Valuable Player awards to first-team World All-Star line-ups, she is unmatched, yet sometimes the credit lags. Having played most of her career for North Carolina State University and the Canadian national team, Hooper has never received the adulation afforded top guns on stronger teams.
At an age by when many would have given up competitive sports, she remains one of the world's most lethal players. Once with a reputation as the most physical forward in the game, Hooper has at times been chided for being overly aggressive. Listed as the player who has suffered and committed the most fouls, she said she is not bothered by complaints about her physical play.
"If anything, that spurs me on to be even more aggressive. (So, the title as the sport's most physical player is) not a bad one at all."
Now, marshalling the defence, her immense versatility and ferocious play cut a nightmarish mist in many strikers’ endeavours.
“I guess I had to get my recognition in some form, but hey, I am in the sport to play, not parade, if you know what I mean,” she quipped.
Hooper is satisfied with the esteem with which she is greeted wherever she goes. ??specially when I go to the Farmers’ Market in Atlanta, there’re lots of foreign people there, including West Indians who recognise me,” she said.
Asked about associating her knowledge and experience with developing the game in the Caribbean, she quickly stated her desire to share with Guyana, especially. She had received approaches from interested Guyanese, and even FIFA Vice-President, Jack Warner, to venture to the region and be involved, but nothing concrete has materialised.
That was a cue to tell her of the upcoming Kashif and Shanghai Championship in Guyana, and enquire of her availability to attend. “Of course, I’d love to. I am anxious to go to Guyana, and … I can’t say ‘catch up’, but rather to get to know people more than their seeing me on TV. It’s interesting to see that I am a Guyanese with all these facilities, so yes, I’d love to go back home for the first time and see the level of soccer, and just be there.”
“I haven’t come across a Guyana team, even in the CONCACAF tournament, so I haven’t heard much about women’s soccer there, but I do know there are great athletes from there (Guyana),” Charmaine said.
She noted that like all international teams, there has to be open support for women’s soccer if the game is to develop in Guyana. “I know because I went through that. You have to genuinely acquire the technical expertise, exposure and other essentials for the team to build confidence and level of play … it can happen.”
Hooper said she witnessed Guyanese FIFA referee, Dianne Ferreira-James, at work and thought she was “simply outstanding” while officiating in the U-19 and Gold Cup games between the USA. and Canada teams. “If you have that quality of administrator, you have to have the playing talent somewhere. I thought I would have seen her at the World Cup, and I wondered why she wasn’t … ‘cause she is definitely capable of being there. Was she unavailable, injured or something, you know … she is good, that good.”
Having lived in Zambia where her father served as a diplomat, Hooper dreamt of taking her talents to the zenith. With college scholarships for women players virtually non-existent in Canada, the United States was a land of opportunity, and she won one to North Carolina State University.
After excelling with school and conference records in college, Hooper chose to stay in the game. She played in semi-professional, then professional leagues, from 1994 to 1998 in Norway, Italy and Japan – where she led in scoring. She returned to the USA and dominated the W-League with the Chicago Cobras from 1998-2000. When the WUSA was formed in 2001, she was drafted into the Atlanta Beat team, playing alongside and captaining current World Cup stars Briana Scurry and Kylie Bivens of USA, Japan’s Homare Sawa and China’s Su-Wen.
Her achievements at every level have been both spectacular and consistent, taking the Beat – she called “the WUSA best team player-for-player” – to the final this year.
Hooper was the leading scorer for the second straight season (11g, 3a, 25pts.), and tied the WUSA record by scoring a goal in five consecutive games. She is the second all-time leading scorer in the WUSA and leads the league in game-winning goals. “It’s little things that make the difference in scoring. Sometimes, for one second you relax in front of the goal and the ball pops to you, you’re not ready for it. You’ve to focus and be disciplined every minute of the game,” she said.
That discipline started even before her unswerving focus on football as she was also competitive at tennis and ice-hockey. “Sports, in general, has built my character, kept me healthy and positioned me in society,” she said, adding that she would always proclaim these benefits to younger girls. “I think I have been blessed with the genetics, but then I’ve had to take care of my body … be disciplined and focused for my longevity.”
Her chiseled body is testament to a personal training regimen that has prompted the WUSA to proclaim her "the fittest athlete in the league," and Sports Illustrated to vote her one of the eight fittest women in sports. She has one of the highest minutes-played-per-match rate, and covered 540 minutes in Canada’s six 2003 World Cup games. For all her collisions, she is the least injured player in women’s soccer. Her diet and workout regimen have been the topic of many sports shows.
She is regarded as very knowledgeable on anything from the technical terms to instructions on how to avoid injury. At the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 50th anniversary, Commissioner John D. Swofford said Hooper is among a list of distinguished women who have “established a level of excellence and achievement that will serve as a standard for all future women athletes.”
Her 107 international caps started on July 7, 1986 in a Norway Cup Exhibition match against the USA. Since then, she has played against almost all international women’s teams, from Australia to Costa Rica, Greece to Nigeria, Denmark to Morocco, some on multiple occasions. Her 60 international goals started April 16, 1991 in a CONCACAF Championship game versus Costa Rica with a double in Canada’s 6-nil victory. Her team has inflicted some of women’s football worst defeats, pummeling Caribbean teams Puerto Rico (21-nil), Martinique (14-nil) and Haiti (11-1). In addition, Hooper has scored seven of Canada’s 25 goals in three games against Jamaica (9:0; 7:0 and 9:0)
Seeing Hooper play is enough to appreciate her sporting superiority. An icon in Canada, no one has appeared in more national team matches nor has any Canadian player scored as many goals. “She is the Wayne Gretzky of Canadian women's soccer,” wrote Jon Cooper in a piece likening her accomplishments to those of the world-famous, archetypal Canadian ice-hockey hall-of-famer. Like Gretzky, Hooper has never been the biggest player on the field nor the fastest. She doesn't have the hardest shot or the trickiest. Yet at the end of every match, the 5’ 7” (173cm), 150lb (70kg) utility player is always listed in the score sheet. "She's outworking, out-thinking people half her age; getting three chances a game and scoring two. I think she's earned all of the credit that she's getting.” Cooper said.
She has had two of her memorable games playing against then world champions, USA. In 1999, she scored both goals for the World All-Stars XI in a 2:1 win. Then in 2001, she scored the winning goal in Canada’s upset 3-1 victory. “I’ve always fancied games against our continental arch-rivals, and I think we could have done better in the World Cup clash if two of our core players hadn’t been injured.”
At the end of the day, all she's done is score goals at every level, period," said her WUSA Atlanta Beat team coach Tom Stone. "She scored record goals in the Japanese league when it was the best in the world. She's the second all-time leading scorer in the WUSA. She scores for Canada against everyone, China, the U.S., Germany, Brazil, it doesn't really matter. She just scores goals.”
Hooper feels her exemplary drive comes from her passion for playing “ball with the guys, frequently.”
Off the pitch, she is known as one of the game's most outspoken players. She was vocal in her criticism of Canada’s poor preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, USA 1999, and refused to play again under former national coach, Neil Turnbull. “It was the consensus that his leadership was not taking a talented team anywhere, and somebody had to speak out … it was me.”
Soon after, Hooper lost her government funding from the Canadian Association and her future with the national team was in doubt, until legendary coach, Even Pellerud, of Norway was offered the Canadian helm. “For me, the more important thing was just to get the programme off the ground because it had stagnated for over a decade. I wanted Canada to play at a better level, to be in it at the end. I think the future is bright for this team now.”
Having been voted the most improved team from 1999 to this year’s World Cup – 12th to 4th – she was modest in accepting compliments for her successful leadership of the Canadian team.
“We are getting down to the nitty gritty. We have to win and take care of all the opportunities that we have. My desire to win is definitely stronger now. At this age, winning is more important to me than it was in the past. I'd like to continue until the Olympics (in 2004) and then at that time make my decision.
“At this point in my career, I have just about everything I wanted to achieve in women's soccer, but I try not to predict how long more I’ll play.”
The football star earned the title of Honorary Ambassador at the first ever FIFA Women's Under-19 World Championships, held in Canada last year. “I was honoured to be a part of that, it was an unbelievable week," she said of her ambassadorship. One game had 37,000 people, and the final brought 47,000. “Who’d imagined that girls' soccer games would have such numbers?" she continued. "I don't know if men's soccer has ever seen those numbers in Canada. It just goes to show that women's soccer is on the rise, not only in Canada, but the world. I think that women's soccer has a lot going on for it in the future.”
Considered a pioneer of women’s soccer in Canada, Hooper has been a member of the national team since its creation 17 years ago. She was elected into the inaugural class of the United Soccer League’s Hall Of Fame.
Away from competitions, Hooper said, “I love to cook and bake, and train young aspiring football girls.” At the time of the interview, she was in the midst of another stint with her protégés in Chicago. “Also, I spend a lot of time with my computers.” With a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Hooper is not optimistic about being able to use the related qualifications soon. “Simply because my life has been around soccer for so many years, and I presume I’d be here for a long time, whether on or off the field.”
There's also the prospect of settling down, as Hooper got married last year to her long-time fiancé, Chuck Codd, an assistant coach with Northwestern University women's team. “I'd like to have kids, too. Take a break, have kids and then continue, but I know when I do have kids my priorities will change.”
She said she got “so far” in her sports career with guidance from her family and husband. She also likes being a mentor for younger people, especially siblings, Gail and Ian, the latter an outstanding football (soccer) player at N.C. State, as well.
Referring to the likely closure of the WUSA league, Hooper said she is almost certain something will happen for its continuance. “Conversely, I’ll play for a team in Chicago and my national team … so I’ll be playing,” she assured, adding “I’d be making a living whether playing or training kids.”
As an athlete immersed in professional sports, Hooper is deeply concerned over the recent revelations on widespread drug use by athletes. “I think it’s a big disappointment that athletes think they need to take drugs, take steroids in order to enhance their performance.
“Not only is it cheating, but you’re also killing yourself. So, it’s disappointing that you think being successful, is more important than your health, your life, ‘cause you may not even win after taking steroids.”