25-06-2025
Ireland footballing legend looking to master another sport
It's coming up to the 12-year anniversary of that goal, the strike that changed everything for Stephanie Zambra, and now post-retirement she is continuing to challenge herself but in another sport.
Football will still always take precedence but next week is the culmination of a different journey where she will play in the KPMG Women's Irish Open Pro-Am.
Golf used to be a passion for the 36-year-old, ever since the days when she played with her brother's eight iron in the makeshift golf course in their local estate in Shankill.
And this summer she jumped at the opportunity to take part in Golf Ireland's First Tee initiative.
'When I was younger we were very lucky we had loads of green areas so whenever any sports were on we were out playing it,' said Zambra.
'Whenever the golf was on, we'd go out and my brother played a little bit when we were growing up, and he had a set of golf clubs and he always used to leave his eight iron in the hallway, so we used to always go out with that and a few golf balls.
'We actually made a little golf course down in our estate that had little holes in the ground. We had three holes that we used to play through so we used to play a bit outside, but I never had any lesson or knew what I was really doing.
'I was just kind of hitting the ball and hoping for the best. I always had a keen interest in trying to learn, but didn't get around to actually learning until I was retired from football because I was so busy.'
Zambra played 58 times for the Republic of Ireland over a remarkable 15-year international career, while she also played club football in France, the United States, England and Italy.
Her own personal highlight was representing her country while the famous Peamount United strike against Wexford Youths in October 2013 catapulted her into the limelight all across the globe.
It led to her appearance at the Ballon d'Or ceremony, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and her goal finishing only second to James Rodriguez for the Puskás Award.
Zambra ended up back in Ireland at the tail end of her career, spending a few seasons with Peamount United again before she finished things off at Shamrock Rovers.
She retired last season but returned to the Hoops where she is a coach in Collie O'Neill's backroom team there, while she also helps out with the Ireland U-17s.
Meanwhile, her home life has also continued apace where she and her husband, Dean, have their own business Champion Coaching.
'The FAI are doing a program called the Player-to-Coach pathway. There's myself, Aine O'Gorman and Rianna Jarrett doing it, so the idea is that we get experience in the underage setups and see how it works and how it runs, just to try and get into coaching really.
'I've been coaching now for a long time. I went to America years ago in my early 20s coaching in camps and ever since then I have had an interest in getting involved and coaching and we set up our own coaching company about seven years ago now.
'I go into schools and I coach after school programmes and we do camps, we do small group sessions with actual players who have ambitions to go and play at a higher level and we do girls' clinics so I'm coaching all the time.
'When I retired from playing, Collie asked me to come on board as a coach as well so I'm doing that too. It's very busy. I don't have any evenings free, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
'I love being involved. It's better to be involved than to completely cut myself off from it, having been involved for so long.'
To continue with that theme, Zambra was delighted when the opportunity arose at Golf Ireland this summer.
Having prior knowledge of the game and a natural competitive edge has certainly helped her take to the game. And her coach, Hazel Kavanagh, noticed the talent that was there right from the outset.
'Hazel would always compare different things to football,' said Zambra.
'When you're playing football, if you're taking a free kick, you usually plant your standing foot in the direction where you want it to go and it's the same with golf.
'When you're hitting the ball, you need to plant your hips, sometimes I'm probably pointing my hips, but not the club, so in terms of aiming she compares that a lot to football.
'I've been up with Hazel quite a bit. The first lesson I went to she said to me that I strike the ball quite well, which kind of gave me that little bit of enthusiasm then. The worst thing is if you go somewhere and you know you're terrible at it straight away.
'Hazel was quite complimentary of me and obviously gave me a few little tips and hints to kind of improve my drive and stuff like that and ever since then I've just said I want to get better at this and anytime I go out for a lesson try to take on board everything she says.
'Sometimes you forget it then when you go onto the course, the hardest thing is trying to remember to get the information that you're given.
'It's just so frustrating, that's the biggest thing I'll take from it because there'll be times where I do hit a really good shot and then the next shot might not be as good, so you've ruined a good shot.
'I'm trying to bring it all together and have good shots consistently, it's probably the hardest part.'
