Rood shooting for spot in NZ side

Northland football international Katie Rood is taking her first halting steps towards re-establishing herself in the Football Ferns squad before the team's World Cup preparations.
Rood has been training with the extended Ferns squad for more than a year since she was selected to train with the U20 World Cup squad. She played in a warm-up series in the United States but missed out on the tournament after being sidelined by a foot injury.
"I broke my foot in May, it was a stress fracture and I had to be really careful with it because I obviously wanted to get it right before I come back," she said.
The fracture came from a step-up in the training required after her inclusion in national training squads.
"My body just wasn't used to the amount of training I was doing and it has been a long recovery period" she said.
While not quite 100 per cent healed, the injury hasn't stopped her from being selected in the New Zealand Secondary Schools team that plays Australia in a three-match series this week.
Rood flies to Queensland today looking forward to getting through the series without any injury problems.
It is the beginning of another massive international programme for the national team with the World Cup held in Germany later this year and leading into next year's Olympics in London - so Rood - and fellow Northland Football Fern Hannah Wilkinson both have a lot to train for.
Rood has speed to burn and is considered by the Ferns as an out and out striker - or an attacking midfielder playing along the flank - but it's not easy to stand out in a good Kiwi side.
"There are so many good strikers in the team at the moment that there is a lot to contend with," she said.
The team builds up toward its first major tournament of the year, the Cyprus Cup, in May.
"I'm not too hopeful of making that tournament because I'm still coming back from injury and I've got a lot to catch up on but you never know they have been known to take people along just to give them experience - look at Hannah last year - so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed," she said.
The Northland pair are both based in Auckland and Northland fans will get a chance to see them play when they both turn out for a Northern Football Women's selection that will play New Caledonia in a friendly international at Fred Taylor Park in Waitakere on Tuesday, December 14, at 6pm.
The Northern team will be the first side to represent the newly branded Northern Football Federation, formerly known as United Soccer 1. They are building up for the National Women's Youth League which kicks off in January.
Northern coach Nathan Janes will have a number of Football Ferns players available for the NWYL, including Rood, Wilkinson, Bridgette Armstrong, Katie Bowen, Elizabeth Milne and Terri-Amber Carlson.