The St Andrew’s College year 12 student will join the Wellington Phoenix Football Academy in January – a feeder to New Zealand’s only female professional club.
The move comes after she performed well at the World Cup in the Dominican Republic, starting against the hosts (1-1 draw) and Nigeria (4-1 loss) before a torn quadricep ruled her out of the final match against Ecuador (a 4-0 loss).
De Wit, 16, said she really wanted the Wellington move.
“Six or seven girls in the 17s New Zealand team that are my teammates are there. I’ve talked to them about the facilities and the trainings. I really wanted it.”
She will be boarding at the New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport and attending Queen Margaret College for her final year of high school – cutting short her time at St Andrew’s.
While she didn’t score at the World Cup, De Wit was happy with her performances and said she loved every minute.
“It’s such an honour to be starting for your country, singing the national anthem,” she said.
“I thought I played alright. I just tried as hard as I could and I don’t regret anything.”
“We were staying at the hotel with the Nigerian team, and we luckily got to meet them afterwards.
“We had this whole trading thing where we’d trade shirts and clothes, and we had this little dance party,” she said.
“They didn’t really speak much English, but we just danced and had a great time. It was awesome.
“I got to trade shirts with one of the Dominican girls as well. Just listening to their stories and how much of an impact this World Cup has made for their country was so cool. Baseball is their main sport but now there’s so many girls playing football.”
De Wit is still injured but hopes to be fit enough to play a part for Canterbury United Pride in their remaining two games in the women’s National League.
