Jaclyn Sawicki was living a “normal life” in retirement until a text that ultimately led to a debut World Cup for the Philippines
Jaclyn Sawicki was living in Canada and enjoying retirement until a former Matildas’ coach touched base. ERIN SMITH explains how everything changed for the now Western United captain.
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Two years ago Jaclyn Sawicki was retired from football, living a “normal life” – then a random text from former Matildas coach turned Philippines women’s coach Alen Stajcic changed everything.
Sawicki, now 31, was nursing a serious knee injury when her domestic contract with Sweden ended in 2019. She headed back home to Canada for the off-season – then the Covid-19 pandemic struck – shutting the borders and international travel.
Sawicki found herself in a full time job at a training facility.
“I naturally retired without even thinking about it,” Sawicki said.
“I just lived a normal life, two years went by and I hadn’t even thought about playing professionally or anything.
“I had joined a local team and was just playing for fun, training a few times a week. Then I randomly got a message from the national team asking me if I wanted to come into camp.
“This was at the beginning of 2022. I flat out said to them ‘I don’t play professionally any more, I’m not going to be at the level’.
“But they insisted. So I spoke to my partner and decided to just go and see how it is.
“I went to the camp and then my life completely changed.”
After the camp, with the possibility of playing at the FIFA Women’s World Cup on the cards Sawicki knew she had to get back in with a professional women’s team.
It was Stajcic who helped her land her contract with the inaugural Western United team in the A-League’s women's competition for the 2022/23 season.
“I realised I couldn’t work full time anymore – it was so unrealistic to be able to keep up the level between international games, if I did that the chances of getting a call up would be slim,” Sawicki said.
“From there it all happened really fast. Mark Torcaso (Western United coach) contacted Stajcic and said he was looking for a midfielder and he put my name forward.”
Torcaso watched Sawicki in action for the Philippines during a tournament and liked what he saw – offering Sawicki a job and the captaincy.
“I think there was a part of me that knew I was unfinished,” Sawicki said.
“I never really tried to seek out any more opportunities, they just sort of came to me, I’m so grateful for the opportunity.
“The A-League’s was definitely my platform to help get back into professional football and to help me achieve my World Cup dream.”
THE WORLD CUP
The 2023 World Cup was the first time the Philippines had qualified for the tournament. Sawicki played in all three of their matches.
While they didn’t progress out of the group stage, with one win and two losses, Sawicki said the experience was hard to describe to anyone who didn’t get to live it first hand.
“To go to my first one at 30-years-old, I don’t think I ever imagined anything like that happening,” she said.
“It’s a bit of an out of body experience when you’re singing the national anthem and listening to the crowd sing it with you.
“We were fortunate to have tons and tons of Filipino fans alongside us.
“To be part of the very first Philippine National Team to qualify was something I’ll cherish forever.”
Sawicki said the experience had lit a fire in the belly of the entire playing group.
“For us continued participation is key and growing the pool and the level of competition and hopefully getting a professional (women’s) league in the country as well,” she said.
THE A-LEAGUES
Western United narrowly missed out on lifting a trophy in their inaugural season, missing the premiership by just one point and then losing the grand final to Sydney FC.
After a bumpy start, which included coach Torcaso leaving to take up a role with the Philippines women’s team and Kat Smith taking the reins, Western United are once again on the hunt for their first piece of silverware for the trophy cabinet.
A slight hiccup against Newcastle Jets at the weekend saw them bumped from first place on the ladder to second – once again just one point behind Sydney FC.
Sawicki is desperate to help the side to victory this season – but said they had to just take it one game at a time.
Losing two key starting players – Chloe Logarzo and Adriana Taranto to injury this late in the season has made it hard for United to keep their form.
“It’s a buzzkill, having two starters get injured at this point in the season but I do believe in the depth of our squad and I think that as a collective we’ve got to come together and step up to fill in those gaps,” she said.
“I think we’ve lost ourselves and our playing style over the last couple of weeks so I think it’s time to take the pressure off and have some fun and go into the games without any expectations.”
They will take on Western Sydney Wanderers this weekend -who have won their last two games, moving them into sixth spot on the ladder.
“It’s going to be a really tough game,” Sawicki said.
“They’ve got a lot of speed in their attack and they are desperate to play finals, they didn’t make it last year.
“So there’s a lot more to play for. The table is the tightest it has ever been, so it’s going to be a competitive match.”
Western United will travel to play Western Sydney Wanderers at 6pm (AEDT) on Saturday.
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