It was not the way that Teagan Micah would have liked her first overseas club season to finish.
Sitting in a hotel room in Brisbane to complete her 14-day quarantine, the Westfield Matildas goalkeeper remembered the moment her promising time in Norway ended.
“It was in training actually, “ she said. “It's always just the awkward shots that can do some damage.”
“I made a turn and reaction save and the ball bounced awkwardly onto my right hand. Most goalkeepers just go 'ouch' and then keep going. I just thought I had jarred my finger for two weeks, so I played games on it.”
“Everything hurt with it, rolling the ball, throwing the ball, everything. Once it wasn’t healing, I got the x-ray and the doctors said it was lucky I had stopped otherwise the bones would have shattered.”
It may have been an unceremonious end to Micah’s time in the Toppserien, but the 23-year-old gained a world of experience from her 14 matches with Arna-Bjornar.
“It was disappointing timing, but at the end of the day the Olympics is my goal and I had to stop now.”
“Otherwise, if I kept persisting then I would have had a much longer recovery time and that would have been worse for me.”
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For the Queenslander it has been big 18 months that has included graduating with a Psychology degree from UCLA, making the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 and 2020 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifiers squads.
However, while those experiences have been unforgettable, Micah had been craving the opportunity to get back between the sticks in competitive football. That was the catalyst for her move to Norway.
“For me I always wanted to go and play games,” she said. “Norway came knocking and they said that they wanted me there as the number one.”
I went there, and I guess the expectations for myself were to get in there and put in solid performances week in week out.”
“The best thing about playing week in week out is you start to learn things about yourself and which areas need to be improved on.”
That mindset of self-improvement has meant evaluating all parts of her game, from match concentration and management, to her shot stopping around her box.
It’s all with the goal to become a regular member of the Westfield Matildas as they head into a period with four major tournaments in four years.
In the short term, Micah’s ambitions are less lofty. First to finish up quarantine, then to get back into training with a healed hand and finally to return to the starting XI at a Westfield W-League squad for the first time in almost five years.
That, and the chance to play in front of family and friends, has been the lure for the goalkeeper to make the move back home.
“I'd hope that I've improved significantly,” Micah laughed as she remembered her last appearance as a teenager.
“I was only 18 years old! I think just playing in so many different like countries and leagues, it has improved my experience so much.
The W-League this year is definitely an opportunity to step up and make the most of the game time. I am also looking forward to just being on home soil and playing in front of people that I know."
“It'll be like way easier for my families to watch instead of my mom staying up until 2am watching my games!”