Jamie Evans is a Futsal Fern. She was a member of the squad who qualified for the FIFA Futsal Women’s World cup last year in the Soloman Islands.

She grew up in Napier, and moved to Hamilton to go to University in 2023. She currently plays for the Waikato Rapids, works in futsal administration at WaiBOP Football, and coaches Futsal at Hillcrest High, Berkley Normal Middle School, and 4Zero.

Jamie's focus for 2025 is to make the New Zealand team to play in the 2025 FIFA Futsal World Cup, to be held in November and December in the Philippines.

Tell me how you got into futsal?

I started playing football at a club in Napier when I was about 5 or 6. I was always kicking around with my neighbors, that's how I got into football. For a long time it was me in a boys team at [Napier] City Rovers.

There were local leagues for futsal around that time and I didn't really know what it was, but the club entered a team from our football team into the futsal leagues and we started playing, which was a lot of fun.

At intermediate school I properly got into it. There was a group of friends that I was with, girls I had been playing football with for a while in reps. We put in a futsal team, throughout intermediate, into local leagues and we did really well and we stayed together for a long time.

We loved to do it. We played in boys leagues in the local comps and we were really successful, won a lot of medals and things, which was really exciting. For me, especially, I just loved it.

I always loved futsal more than football, although football was bigger at that time in my life.

At what age did you have to make a choice and give up football? 

Oh, I only made that choice a couple of years ago.

When I moved up here for uni, I wanted to continue to play football as well. But two weeks after starting football, I just decided I wanted to focus on futsal and I wanted to try and get into the New Zealand team.

So in 2023 I stopped playing football. There was enough opportunity here in the Waikato, there was enough futsal for me to play to do it all year round, so I decided to do that. 

Jamie Evans playing for the Waikato Raids, vs Bay of Plenty Surge - 2025 FORD Futsal Super League

At what stage did you start getting involved with the New Zealand setup? How did that happen and what was involved? 

I got the tap on the shoulder after my first Futsal SuperLeague season with the WaiBOP Power. I had just moved up to Hamilton and played my first season of SuperLeague.

I got an e-mail and talked to the head coach at prizegiving at the end of the season. And from there I got invited to a camp. And then once I was through the door and into the wider squad I started to go to team trainings and go to camps.

Since I've been a part of it, I've been selected to go over to the Solomon Islands. That's the first and only so far for me, and that was for World Cup qualifiers for the first woman's Futsal World Cup this year. 

Do you know what the lead up is going to look like over the next few months?

I'm not sure what it's going to look like. But the men's team got three international friendlies in the lead up to their World Cup so hopefully we will get something similar.

That's my biggest focus, the World Cup this year.

Can you talk about the differences between football and futsal?

Well, they're different skill sets, but they complement each other.

There's a lot less space available on a futsal court, so smaller touches, quicker feet, faster movements, are important in futsal.

At all times you're building something and you're really close to the ball. That's also what I love about futsal. That it is only five players, so you’re all working very hard at all times and you all have the opportunity to impact the game. 

You know in football, there's times where the ball’s on the other side of the pitch and you get that recovery but in futsal, you don't really get that recovery until you come off the court. 

You’re on the court for about four or five minutes on average. That’s in a stop clock game, so in real time you’re on longer than four minutes.

Everyone has to do their job. The other team will take advantage of someone who's not doing their job on the court.

New Zealand's Jamie Evans. OFC Futsal Women's Nations Cup 2024, New Zealand v Tonga, Friendship Hall Honiara, Saturday 17 August 2024. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / www.phototek.nz

Futsal is a stop clock game. Every time the ball goes out, or the whistle is blown, the clock stops. At what level of the game does that start?

That’s just at the senior level. The SuperLeague and the Uni Nationals are the only stop clock competitions right now.

We have 20 minute halves, but games will last around an hour and a half on average. 

Tell me about coaching? You've just come from coaching futsal at Hillcrest High? [Jamie coaches three mornings a week at 7am]

Yes, I started at Hillcrest in team 4 of last year. I do other coaching with 4Zero, a futsal club, and at Berkley Middle School.

My first time coaching was with Berkley. Tim, who runs 4Zero, wanted to get me coaching some of the girls. They didn’t have many female coaches and they wanted more. They saw what it means to the girls when they have a female coach in front of them. I think it is quite special as well when the coach is also a player, because I can join in with them. I can show them what I can do, and they can get inspired. 

Jamie Evans playing for the Waikato Raids, vs Bay of Plenty Surge - 2025 FORD Futsal Super League

Tell me about your experiences coaching?

I find it quite challenging if I'm being honest, coaching does not come naturally to me. It was a really, really hard thing for me to do. When I first moved here, I was so quiet.

I really wanted to do it, though, because I think we need positive female coaches in futsal.

I wanted to see more creativity and flair and give girls the opportunity to just have fun.

That’s what I think futsal is about at its very core. That's why everyone plays the game. That's what gets people into it.

I find that girls have a lot of pressure when they're playing, you know, in front of their peers. They don't even want to try too hard because they're in front of their friends. I want to provide spaces where they can just be themselves and express themselves on the court, and learn new skills without pressure.

New Zealand's Jamie Evans. New Zealand Women's National Futsal Team, Honiara, August 2024. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / www.phototek.nz

Does coaching help your game?

100% yes it does. One of the coaching courses I did we talked about watching a game and having a player hat on or a coaching hat.

I've never really worn that coaching hat, never really ever been able to analyse games. I just play and I just read the game and what's in front of me when I play.

Now that I've been coaching for a little bit, I can actually analyse exactly what's going on, which then helps me when I'm a player. I can recognise certain situations and I'm better suited to make decisions in the game, now that I know a bit more about it as a coach.

Are you still studying and how do you fit everything in?

I took a break from studying. I wanted to put everything into trying to make the New Zealand team and get better as a futsal player. I decided Uni isn’t going anywhere, and I can come back to it. I decided to work to save money to focus on futsal. 

You work at WaiBOP Football in the futsal space. How did that come about, and how has the transition been to the administration side of the game?

When I first moved up, I played in the Youth Nationals for WaiBOP as well as the WaiBOP Power. I got really involved with the community and became, I guess, a well known member of futsal community, especially for women and girls.

When the role came up at WaiBOP it seemed like a great fit.

The admin side can get complicated. We run leagues that play across about 13 different venues and there's so many different grades, and there's a huge, huge amount of people playing.

So this year's all about the Futsal World Cup for you. What about beyond that, what are your long term ambitions.

I would love to go to overseas one day, to play in somewhere like South America, that would be the dream for me. 

Article added: Thursday 06 March 2025