Goalkeeper Lily Alfeld has been named Wellington Phoenix captain for their maiden A-League Women's season.
The club has revealed Alfeld was voted into the role by her teammates, a model used in other high performance environments, such as the Silver Ferns, where the players anonymously answer a variety of questions about the teams' leadership.
"We tailor-made it to the Wellington Phoenix and the team we wanted to select," says head coach Gemma Lewis. "What kind of person builds confidence for you?
“Who do you trust? Who do you respect?
“Who leads on the field? Who demonstrates work ethic and the principles that we want to represent as a team?
"Ultimately, one of the last questions was who would you vote for as your captain?
"It was a very open process - really engaging the playing group, because I think it really needs to be a role that can kind of be a go-between myself and the players, and also somebody that can take charge on the field and within the playing environment as well."
Alfred was Lewis' first signing and she says the experienced stopper quickly emerged as the leading candidate to skipper the side.
"We took a bit of time before announcing, because we wanted to make sure it was the right person, but from the moment we started the team, she's really stood up as a leader within the group.
"The players really look up to her, they come to her for advice, both on and off the field, so it ended up being quite an easy choice for us and the players."
At 26, the former NZ age-group representative is the oldest player in the inaugural squad and joins from Perth Glory, where she started all 12 of their matches last season and led the league with 53 saves.
"It's a huge honour," Alfeld says. "Being named as captain for any team is a huge honour, but to have the opportunity to lead the girls out on that pitch for the first time in our inaugural season, it's a very special moment for me.
"This will be another first, captaining at a professional level. It'll be a huge step up, but it's a challenge I'm really looking forward to."
Teenage defender Kate Taylor, 18, has been named Phoenix vice-captain.
"I think people would definitely raise their eyebrows at it, but anybody that knows Kate probably isn't that surprised," says Lewis.
"If you look at the demographic of our team, she is probably not a super young person within our team. She's looked up to a lot and she comes up highly across a lot of those things we asked within the survey.”
Wellington Phoenix women play their historic first match against Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday.
