Southlander forging Ivy League path at Harvard
From Invercargill to the historic halls of one of the world’s most prestigious universities – it's been quite a journey for Sammy Murrell.
The Southlander has a year and a half remaining at Ivy League college Harvard, which boasts eight United States presidents, 369 Rhodes Scholars and 160 Nobel laureates amongst its alumni.
Murrell remembers first receiving an email inviting her to apply; her grades and time with the New Zealand under 20 women’s football team attracting the interest of the school’s Harvard Crimson women’s football coaching staff.
“I was talking to a couple of other schools, but as soon as I got that email I was like ‘I would absolutely love to go there’,” she said during a trip home for semester break.
“I was working at Rebel Sport and I was looking up the campus website, looking at all the pictures on the home page. It was really beautiful, and when I got there for the first time it was just like the photos, very picturesque.”
Even for student athletes at Harvard, the focus remains on academics.
That was initially a little unnerving for Murrell, who had taken a gap year prior to applying to focus on the Junior Football Ferns’ 2016 World Cup campaign in Papua New Guinea.
“It was a little intimidating, especially as I’d been out of school for a year, but it felt much less intimidating when I got there because my teammates were just so welcoming.”
Murrell is now focusing on neuroscience; what is referred to as a concentration, rather than a major, at Harvard.
“I get to take a bunch of other classes which are in a whole lot of other fields so it’s not like I have to stick just to the science stuff and it’s really cool to have that mix.” she said.
“I’m in the stages of trying to figure out where that’s going to take me. I’m going to start in a research lab this semester to get a sense of whether that’s something I’m going to enjoy. I took a really cool class about medical ethics and got super interested in health care policy and the inequities of health, especially in the United States, but I’m not sure where this is going to take me.”
“It’s given me a lot of motivation to work as hard as I can to get better and put myself in the best possible position to start.”
Murrell’s Harvard Crimson team finished runner-up in their Ivy League conference last season, with only the top team going through to the NCAA finals.
“Unfortunately, we fell just short of that goal this year, but we made great strides as a team and really learnt a lot of things. Now it’s about preparing for this season, which starts in August.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster really. I started a lot my first year and I got injured at the end of that season, which put me out for 10 months. I didn’t quite get back to where I wanted to the next season and struggled with little niggly injuries. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, it's given me a lot of motivation to work as hard as I can to get better and put myself in the best possible position to start.”
Work ethic has never been an issue for the former Southland Girls’ High School student, who graduated from the Academy Southland programme in 2015 and was honoured with the Mike Piper trophy for her dedication and excellence.
“I really like the way she’s stayed connected locally, she’s always learning and she’s willing to help others.”
Programme manager Jason McKenzie said Murrell had three crucial elements for success – talent, work ethic and she loved what she was doing.
“It wasn’t easy for Sammy down here because she was at another level in terms of women’s football and she had to play against the boys a lot. She’s had her injuries, but she’s shown so much tenacity, she’s just kept chipping away.
“I really like the way she’s stayed connected locally, she’s always learning and she’s willing to help others. We’ve noticed a real transition from the days when it was all about football, to now being about life and football.”
Murrell looks back at her time in the Academy fondly, particularly working with former strength and conditioning coach Nardine Oakes and dietician Aimee Hall.
“I still keep in mind the stuff I did with Nardine five years ago; all the stuff we learnt about recovery which is almost as important as training itself; the nutrition work I did with Aimee is still a big part of my life. The Academy set me up really well and I’m very grateful to have been a part of it.”
