“I guess a hobby is drinking coffee? Everyone knows I like it a lot, I kind of have a caffeine addiction,” she said.
The 19-year-old former Lincoln High student and ex-Halswell United player is currently taking a two-week break from football following the end of the Wellington Phoenix’s second A-League season, which finished with a 2-2 draw against the Melbourne Victory a week ago.
McMeeken was the team’s youngest squad member in their inaugural season and started in all but one of their games. She was one of 13 players to sign on for a second season with the club.
It was also the first season the team could play their home games at Wellington’s Sky Stadium after the Covid-19 border restrictions prevented any games being played outside Australia last season.
“It was so much better. The support from all the fans and our families made such a great atmosphere,” she said.
“Compared to last year, everyone in the team felt like we were more competitive,” she said.
One of McMeeken’s highlights was last month’s 1-0 win over A-League leaders, Sydney FC on March 11 – which also happened to be her birthday.
“We beat Sydney, who are one of the league’s top teams (in Sydney), which was pretty cool. It was such a good birthday,” she said.
Over the last six months McMeeken has been based in Wellington.
“Moving to Wellington was a big change, but I’m a lot more used to it now.
“If my parents had a choice they’d want me back here a lot more though.”
The young fullback is staying with her parents’ in Lincoln for another week before travelling to Auckland for an under-20 Football Ferns camp. After that, it’s back to Wellington to play for the Phoenix Academy until the A-League re-starts in October.
Between her football duties, she’s looking forward to watching the Football Ferns play at home in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which runs from July 20 to August 20.
She hopes to play for the Football Ferns one day. “I know quite a lot of them playing now, so I will definitely make my way to the games,” she said.
Although she hasn’t extended her contract with the Phoenix for another year yet, McMeeken is keen to continue playing in the A-League.
“I’m planning to stay in the A-League. I love all the coaches and players at the Phoenix so we’ll see.
“I just want to become more of a consistent starter and make a team over in Europe one day,” McMeeken, who named Barcelona’s Lucy Bronze as her favourite player.
“The Women’s Super League is growing so much and to see (50,000 people) at one of the games recently was just insane.”
“A lot of my coaches recommended playing with boys,” she said.
“I really liked playing with them because they really cared for me but I quite enjoyed tackling them too.”
McMeeken is hoping to be selected for next year’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup, although the tournament venue and dates are still to be confirmed.
In the meantime, McMeeken will be searching for a job in Wellington in the off-season while she plays for the academy team and finishes studying a psychology course this semester.
“This year (the contract) was enough to fund everything it needed to,” she said.
And if McMeeken lands the job she has in mind, it doesn’t look like her coffee addiction will be ending anytime soon: “It’ll probably be something to help with my social skills, like maybe a cafe.”
