Finding the Way Back (gxg)

Chapter 22

Our week in Europe didn't quite go as well as the previous international break went, but it still provided the team with a huge learning experience, especially for the first-timers who traveled with us. The game against Germany ended in a 2-2 draw, while we beat the Dutch national team 4-1 just days later. Hayes was overall happy, which meant no overbearing lectures on what everyone needed to focus on back at their clubs.

Not that she needed to when I had kept myself busy by keeping a long list of things that I had seen over the course of the camp. One of which was the moment Maya Richards got nutmegged by her Chelsea teammate during practice the day before the Germany match. It was hilarious to watch, and thankfully had been recording it with my phone.

By lunchtime, the US Soccer Federation, the Women's Super League, and the Chelsea social media accounts had reposted the video. Maya was annoyed at first but was laughing it off by the end of the day. It had provided much-needed entertainment for all of us.

During the flight back home, I added even more notes to the notebook I had purchased in Dortmund, all while watching footage on my small phone screen. I made a mental note that if I were to continue doing this, I would need a bigger device to watch matches and videos from practice on.

The process of combing back through everything and spotting where improvements could be made took me back to my U17 days. It had been a practice that Ellis had originally gotten me into, and breaking down my own performances to see where I could improve had helped to make me a better soccer player. It quickly evolved from there, with the practice extending to my teammates.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well they received my feedback, probably because of my improvements throughout the season. All of them showed their own improvements, and the team improved as a result. We were playing sharper and faster than any other team we faced, all while playing as a solid unit. By the time we won the U17 league playoffs, we were looking more like a semi-pro team than a bunch of teenagers on the pitch.

It even got to where I was filling more of the role of a coach than Ellis was. I had established myself as the team captain, despite being the youngest player on the squad.

That process continued through the year I spent on the U19 squad, owed to knowing some players from playing together on the U17 squad. They helped ensure that the others realized just how impactful my observations could be, and it resulted in another youth league title.

Then I made the U21 squad. The same squad that never texted me following my injury. The one who thought my Red Bull sponsorship landed me the spot on both the U20 national team and the U20 squad, not my talent and determination to always improve the way I played.

At first, I tried to replicate my system, but with all of my U19 teammates ending up at colleges across the country, there was no one to stick up for the youngest player on the squad. I had been sixteen when I joined, and I was playing with people three or four years older than me. I tried to show them the evidence that I knew what I was talking about, and they slowly broke me down until I stopped trying. Until I stopped carrying around my notebook and taking notes on our practice sessions and matches.

But the national team girls brought that part of me back out and fully embraced it. They all had the same hunger to improve that I did, and they hung on every word I spoke when I broke down the things I noticed. I wasn't playing or practicing with them, so I had ample time to figure these things out.

Even Hayes had been impressed with my analytical skills, touting me as future captain material if I kept it up. In her words, every good captain needed to know how to help their teammates grow as players and people in a way that strengthens the team atmosphere.