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| Heather Cooke |
MANILA, Philippines—In some manner, however tenuous, these two individuals are kindred spirits.
In fact, listening to them as they spoke of plans for the women’s national football team, it was strange that US NCAA Division I standout Heather Cooke and longtime “Malditas” coach—and caretaker—Ernie Nierras only finally got together one Thursday September evening.
Strange, in that both wanted the same thing: Take the Malditas, the affectionately attached moniker to the Philippine women’s football team, to heretofore unexplored heights.
For Cooke, a defender from Loyola Maryland in the US NCAA, the realization that she wanted to beef up the Madlitas came belatedly—she and her teammate were watching the Women’s World Cup when the latter cracked a joke about playing in football’s biggest stage for the Philippines. Except that to Cooke, that didn’t sound like a punchline. It sounded more like a suggestion.
“That night, I began searching for links and ways to contact anyone from Philippine football. I wasn’t really expecting much so I was surprised when somebody actually replied,” she told the Inquirer after an 18-hour flight from the US.
Nierras, on the other hand, was busy compiling data on foreign talents with Filipino blood, sending out inquiries. One of those he sent an e-mail to was Cooke.
“We probably sent our e-mails at more or less the same time. I had heard about her already and I wanted her to be part of the team. One thing led to another and here we are,” said Nierras, whose well-built physique belies the fact that he actually has a daughter who is already on the national team.
You have to understand Cooke’s core to fully grasp why she would, at the spur of the moment, Google for ways to join the Malditas and then jump on the first available flight when a response actually came. After all, she knew little about PH football and even less about the Malditas—the team and the word.
“My mom told me ‘remember how when you were young, in church, I used to call you maldita?’” Cooke said. “And I was like ‘I knew I heard that word before!’”
But this is the kind of person Cooke is: Previously on her Twitter bio, the 22-year-old wrote how she is always “looking for [her] next adventure.”
This is the same girl who, after hearing about a casting call for MTV’s popular Real World show, lined up for auditions almost instantly.
“I kept making all the rounds until I was finally chosen as an alternate. When one of the regulars backed out, I got in the show,” Cooke said.
If not for the fact that being on Real World opened opportunities for her, Cooke would hardly speak about her stint in the MTV reality show. “You don’t want to know what happens there,” she said, laughing. “I hated almost everything about it. I could have done without it.”
Football (or soccer, as she prefers), though is something she couldn’t do without. The thought of playing the game for a country she had long been wanting to visit made the solo trip to her other home (her mother traces her roots to Iloilo) worth it.
“I love soccer and I always wanted to come to the Philippines. When I was young, I kept telling my mom that we should make a trip here. But we didn’t have the money to do so,” she said.
Nierras was only willing to facilitate such a trip. The straight-talking coach has a no-nonsense personality that matches Cooke’s go-getter attitude. He has axed coaches and feuded with top football officials (I’ve ousted PFF presidents, he said) to become what he calls “one of the most hated people in football.” But at the heart of his stubborn refusal to settle for mediocrity is the goal of seeing the Malditas also make their mark in international football, the way the Azkals are slowly doing.
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And it’s no power- or ego-trip for this guy. In fact, he admits that for the women’s squad to rise back to respectability, the team will need foreign coaching, and he’s actually working to fly in his replacement.
And he, too, is honest enough to admit that he hasn’t seen enough of Cooke to say she is the savior the team is looking for. But he will tell you one thing: With Cooke around, the team’s not going to be bullied much anymore.
“Teams used to push us around before. Now, we can push back,” he said. “Heather really gives us size in the backline and we now have that toughness that we didn’t have before.”
Cooke also takes care not to over-advertise herself. While she feels her Real World experience can help her improve the Malditas’ popularity, she said she can’t put in tangible terms what she’ll bring to the team.
She did promise one thing, though: “I’m going to go in hard and play 90 minutes until there’s nothing left in me.”
“When I was recruited [in college], that was the reason they wanted me because my skill level wasn’t really that [high]. But I was happy that’s what I brought because it’s something you can’t teach and I was actually surprised how some players on the field don’t have the same attitude,” she said.
It’s that attitude that Nierras hopes will shoot the Malditas upward.
“Now is our time to shine,” said Nierras.
Cooke hopes to help Nierras achieve that goal. The girl has seen what it’s like in the Real World and she feels it’s time to figure out how she’ll fit into a bunch of Malditas currently mentored by a kindred spirit.
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