Editor’s note: this piece was originally published in March, 2023.
Beattie Goad is a fringe Matilda and Liberty A-League star, who is inspired through football and her medical studies by the “badass women” she looks up to. Goad talks to KEEPUP about the six years abroad that shaped her, and the difficult decision to return home.
It could have all been so different for Beattie Goad.
It was early 2020 and, with the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly evolving, the winger was at a crossroads.
She would go on to become a Matilda, and a Liberty A-League star – but not before experiencing the overwhelming urge to give football away.
“At Stanford, soccer had boiled down to a pressurised (and) performance-based realm in my life,” Goad tells KEEPUP.
“I was burnt out, like a lot of my teammates.”
Goad had just finished her fourth year studying and playing football at Stanford University in the United States. While completing the equivalent of a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology with a Medical Anthropology minor, she was simultaneously pushing to excel in an elite football program renowned for producing top-tier international talent.
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Goad recalls those pivotal months following her Stanford graduation: “At the time, I was quarantining with my parents in Morro Bay, California.
“I told my mum: ‘I think maybe I just want to be a normal human being, and stay in San Francisco and work’. My mum broke down in tears, then I broke down in tears.
“I just let that settle; then I went on this epic hike in Washington with two of my friends, where they had an intervention with me.
“(They) said: ‘We think you should keep playing’. And I got back down to reception and called my mum.”
What followed was a three-year journey, guided by football, to SV Meppen in Lower Saxony, Germany, to UDG Tenerife in Spain and, lastly, back home to Melbourne Victory for the beginning of the 2022-23 Liberty A-League campaign. It’s the club where Goad’s football career began at just 16 years of age.
Goad’s drive to succeed in football has always been matched by her passion for academia; she describes both disciplines as her “two avenues, two pathways.”
“I wanted to be able to continue both of those at the greatest level I could,” Goad says. “I felt if I stayed (in Australia) I would have to choose one way or the other.
“I had a desire to burst the bubble I grew up in, (and) explore the world. Initially I didn’t think I could get there, I was very pessimistic and not optimistic at all, but luckily my parents gave me a lot of confidence and believed in me, so I gave it a shot.”
Four years at Stanford led to an offer from SV Meppen, who in mid-2020 were one of the Frauen-Bundesliga’s newly-promoted sides.
Having come back from the brink of giving it all away, Goad found mental freedom in her German move which she hadn’t felt for years in the pressure cooker environment of an elite American university.
“It boiled down to stripping all of the pressure and anxiety I had built over college, and just play,” Goad says.
“It was an easy transition to be honest. Because I was about to quit, or about to take a break, I didn’t have huge expectations on myself. I just was like: ‘Cool, let’s see how this goes’. I definitely (just) wanted fun, I just wanted to make the most of being abroad… I had really just done it on a whim, which I think just set me up for a really exciting experience.”
Goad’s form in Germany didn’t go unnoticed back home; in April, 2021, when the Matildas travelled to Germany for an international friendly, Goad made her international debut, earning the first of three Matildas caps she’s accrued to date.
One significant step along the footballing avenue of course coincided with one of equal academic significance; whilst in the US, Goad completed Australia’s Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT), and interviewed for medical school in Germany over Zoom.
One season at UDG Tenerife in Spain followed Goad’s SV Meppen spell – and then came her return home to continue her studies.
But not before a decision that could have easily seen the Victory star represent Sky Blue or Red and Black in the 2022-23 A-League Women season.
“I actually initially really wanted to go to (university in) Sydney,” Goad says. “I (received offers in) Sydney and Melbourne – and deferred both.
“The decision between Melbourne and Sydney was huge for me. I struggled a lot with the decision, which annoyed my parents and my partner at the time. But I think because I’d been away for six years, I had this idea that I always need to be away, I need to continue to chase myself outside of home. But the reason I chose Melbourne, in the end, was to just be closer to family after all that time away.
“Med school is hard. It’s good to have family close. I wasn’t going to (fool) myself and pretend that was not the case. So I decided to stay in Melbourne.”
As Goad committed to studying at the University of Melbourne, she signed a contract to return to Melbourne Victory. She has since made 16 appearances for the reigning A-League Women champions, scoring one goal, supplying five assists, playing multiple positions and, in the process of it all, storming into contention for a Matildas recall with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup looming large on the horizon.
“I think the longer-term plan for soccer is more of a year-to-year thing for me now,” Goad says. “I’m going to try to see how I can fit it in with med school.
“Honestly, it’s been a really great avenue to decompress from studies, and maybe a healthy thing to have in my life so I’m not just cooped up and studying.
“I’m going to try to continue it as far as I can. If I can set my eyes on the national team, that would be a great byproduct. But right now I’m just trying to focus on this season, performing well for the team this season and fingers crossed for next season. From there, we’ll see.”
Between football and medical school, Goad finds time to work at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, researching paediatric epilepsy.
Sat on her desk is a paper on that very subject, published by Goad together with Dr Fiona Baumer throughout the former’s time at Stanford University.
The paper is a key source of inspiration for Goad to continue contributing to medical research. The rest of Goad’s motivation comes from looking up to women in science, like Dr Baumer, who have mentored her along the way.
“Both of my bosses at MCRI and at Stanford are female neurologists, both have kids, both juggle multiple roles in the hospital and in the research field,” Goad says.
“I’m blessed to be surrounded by two really badass women in science. It’s inspiring.”
Goad looks for similar role models in football.
“I had a teammate, Steph Catley, who I grew up idolising and played a season or two with at Melbourne Victory and City. Seeing her play in the Arsenal team, watching their highlights in the Champions League. How can you not be inspired?”
