A Coquitlam soccer star is no stranger to honours for her play.
But recently getting inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame is extra special for Joan McEachern because that's where she grew up and discovered her passion for soccer.
"To be honoured by your home province, it's really humbling," she said.
McEachern, who moved to B.C. in 1990 to study for her Masters at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and settled in Coquitlam six years later, is already in the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame, and four years ago she joined the Soccer Hall of Fame of British Columbia.
McEachern is a pioneer of the women's game in Canada.
She didn't start playing soccer until she was in Grade 11 when a teacher at Lanigan Central High School formed its first girls team and quickly went on to win a provincial championship.
After graduation, McEachern again forged new ground. She was part of a women’s team that joined an all-men’s indoor league in Saskatoon and won its championship and while a junior at the University of Saskatchewan, she was part of a new club team that became the nucleus of the school’s first varsity women’s soccer team the following year.
In 1987, McEachern was named to Canada’s national women's soccer team in only its second year of existence and made her international debut in only its third-ever match. She scored her first international goal in a 12-team tournament in China that FIFA staged to gauge the quality of women’s soccer and in 1995 she was part of Canada’s first team to qualify for the women's World Cup.
It was exciting to be in on the ground floor for so many formative moments in women's soccer, said McEachern, who was called a "bulldozer" by some of her teammates because of her speed and strength that made her a force at both ends of the pitch.
But there was also frustration.
Funding was non-existent for women’s soccer and opportunities were limited, McEachern said. Coaches lacked resources and players often had to make their own successes.
It all seems so far away from the sport’s current state, where Canada's stars like Christine Sinclair are celebrated in the same breath as icons of the male game like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Renaldo. Women's matches get national TV coverage and stadiums are packed with tens of thousands of fans.
McEachern said the progress women’s soccer has made first really hit home for her at a Canadian match against Mexico to qualify the national team for the 2012 Women's World Cup when she gathered on the concourse of BC Place stadium with some former teammates to watch the stands fill up with excited fans.
"The atmosphere was electric and we looked at each other and said, 'we helped build this.'"
But the sport still has a ways to go to be on par with the men, who spent several years coaching at Kwantlen University until its sports programs folded in 2015. Professional opportunities are still limited, even for top players, and pay rates mean they often have to hold down second jobs to be able to afford to continue to play.
But, McEachern said, the current generation of players is up to the challenge. Their technical skills and tactical awareness have improved by leaps and bounds, the coaching is better and girls are getting involved in the sport at a younger age.
And while women’s soccer may bear only a passing resemblance to the hardscrabble affairs of her own career, McEachern said she feels proud about her place in its evolution.
"As you get older, you look back and realize you were in a blessed place to be there in the beginning."
