For all the talk of Aivi Luik's foreign heritage and footballing experience, what's most surprising is that she has an Australian accent.
Aivi Luik (pronounced Ivy Looik) isn't an entirely common name in Australia and Luik has encountered such mashings of her name as the most common Ay-vee and the slightly more tongue-twisting, almost yodelling-like Ay-vee-i. But regardless of how everyone else pronounces her name, Luik pronounces it with a distinctly, born-and-bred-here Australian accent.
Her mother is Swedish, her father Australian, and Luik grew up on the Gold Coast. Her name is Estonian and doesn't have an exact meaning, but Luik's mother thinks it comes from 'Eva', which means life.
And Luik is certainly leading a full one. She's spent the last few years playing football in America and Europe where she was, ironically, known for being Australian. She thinks she was liked and accepted because of her Australian heritage and Americans' fascination with all things Aussie. And she's somewhat bemused that while she still calls Australia home, she overheard people talking about 'The American playing for Roar Women' when she arrived back.
Still, as she admits, overall the homecoming has been a pretty smooth transition, with Luik slotting straight into both the Roar Women starting XI and the Matildas squad. 'I was a little sceptical of how things would go considering I had been away for a while, but I've just played my game and fit in well,' she says. 'In other ways it's been difficult in terms of living an hour away from the Roar training grounds.'
Luik's referring to the fact that she (and three other Gold Coast-based players) commute to Brisbane to train and play for Roar Women. They car pool to lighten the travelling load, but the time-sapping commute means it's tricky to commit to anything other than training and travelling.
'I have a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Geography,' says Luik. 'When I arrived back in Australia I wanted to get a job within my area of expertise, but it proved too difficult because every employer I met with required a commitment to work until 5pm each day.' Nor was she able to obtain invaluable work experience in the field because she started playing football fulltime as soon as she had completed her degree. It has, she says, put her at a disadvantage and she's currently investigating further study options to add to her skill base. If and when the Gold Coast set up a W-League team, it'd be fair to say that Luik and her teammates would be looking to represent their hometown-Roar Women's loss will be the Gold Coast's gain.
For the moment, though, Luik is focusing on the upcoming Asian Cup in China, which will also serve as a qualifying round for the 2011 Women's World Cup. Luik had planned to stay in Australia in the lead up (she loves being back and her parents are pretty excited too), but it's now looking likely that she'll need to head to Europe or America to keep up her match fitness as the third W-League season is a long way off.
Luik's international experience gives her the added benefit of gaining first-hand experience playing against some of her potential Asian Cup opponents. She played with the technically gifted midfielder Mizuho Sakaguchi at FC Indiana last year. 'She has the best touch on the ball I have seen in a female footballer,' Luik says. 'She has great vision and delivers a spot-on ball. She is also a very strong tackler with a trick or two up her sleeve.' Fortunately for the Matildas, Sakaguchi did her knee last May and won't be back in time for the Asian Cup. But, Luik says, Japan's loss is her loss too and she'll be sad not to see Sakaguchi there.
So, given that Luik seems to travel even more than the average Matilda and that she'll be packing her bags again soon, she must have some seriously good packing skills by now, no? Luik laughs, and concedes that 'I have learnt to travel pretty light. I put out all the soccer-related stuff like team clothes, boots, ice packs, and shinnies (which I triple check). Then it's regular clothes, entertainment (iPod, computer, movies). But if I had to say one thing that I can't travel without, I'd say it was a good book, i.e. Twilight.'
