First Impressions.

I’ve started to lose count of the number of teams I have played for, or I have trained with, in the last few years. Despite being one of the older, or oldest player, I always feel nervous before my first practice with my new team. The intensity of the nerves varies depending on the level and location of the team (i.e. within the U.S. or outside the U.S.), but I can expect them to come at some point before the day I meet my new team and coach.

When I arrive at my host family’s home or the apartment that my soccer club has provided for me, I always take a moment to soak it all in because in my head, I think: “I only get to see something once for the first time.” The empty shelves and bare walls (in my room), the floors clean enough to eat off, the energy in each of the rooms, and the people with smiling faces to welcome me into my new home. I take all this in.

This ritual is no different from when I meet my team for the first time.

At my first practice in Israel, I was thoroughly impressed from the moment I stepped into the gym where we were training that night. I was introduced to a small group of girls sitting on the floor and immediately was greeted with smiling faces. We are instructed to report 30 minutes before practice begins, which I like because it gives us plenty of time to greet each other and talk about our day or do whatever we need to do to prepare for practice. I noted that this 30 minute rule does not just apply to the players, but the coaches as well.

I knew little about our head coach other than he cared deeply about the players on his team; he wanted to know how they slept, how they were feeling, even when they were on their periods, so that he could help his players to perform optimally. I appreciate a coach, particularly a male coach, who does not shy away from what might be considered “uncomfortable” topics of conversation in order to help the player. The player manager, a player returning from injury, explained to me that last year the head coach didn’t understand why girls would come to training moody or appear sluggish. It wasn’t until someone explained that it was because players were on their periods that he understood and made a change. From that moment on, he asked the player manager to track when the girls began their periods each month in order to help them at training. This is something that I had pushed for when I was a college coach and I tried to explain this to my male head coach, but he was largely unresponsive to the idea.

A few minutes after I arrived at my first practice, my new head coach entered the gymnasium. I noted a strong presence and respected the way he carried himself. He came around to each of the girls and shook their hands and looked them in the eyes, asking how they were doing. This was not a quick greeting, but he made sure each greeting had a meaningful connection between the two of them before shaking the next player’s hand. When he came to me, he held my hand longer than I expected him to. In America, we might shake hands with someone for two, perhaps three seconds, but this felt like a handshake that lingered for five, six, or seven seconds. While uncomfortable at first, and confused as to whether I was holding on or if he was, this extended handshake said, “I want you to know that I am glad you are here, I look forward to working with you, and I care about you both as a player and as a person.” This handshake confirmed what I had heard about him as a coach, and established a good foundation to build on for the coming months. I will do whatever it takes to see this coach’s vision through and achieve our team’s goals.

From what I can see, this is a coach who knows how he wants his team to perform. The first practice had less coaching than the second practice which was held outdoors at a turf field. I could tell from the game film I watched from last season that this is a coach who likes simplicity rather than flair and values keeping possession of the ball. The activities I have seen so far reflect this vision as do his coaching points.

Out of all the teams I have played for, this team has done the most to make sure I have everything I need to thrive in this environment and I am grateful to them, particularly the owners of the club. What has impressed me the most is the amount of work the club has done upfront before I arrived to ensure that I have everything that I needed right away. The only other club to do this much work on my behalf was my club in Italy, but I was one of the first international players to join their team and so they still had to figure some things out within the first week of my arrival. Unlike Italy, this team has had several internationals, particularly American players, come before me.

As a player, the professionalism of a club goes a long way. I have played for, and coached, enough teams who compete at various levels (now including the highest level) to know that the work put in before a player arrives can go a long way. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make it all possible so that when the player arrives, they have everything they could possibly want or need (for the time being).

My mentor told me, “if you are not capable of being professional in all capacities, then you are not professional. Just because you provide the most basic things for your team or club, does not mean you are professional.”

While I am impressed with the amount of work the club has done to ensure that I am comfortable and taken care of, everything that has been provided for me, or that I have asked for, has been relatively basic.

I would encourage coaches and clubs to consider what it might look like to truly be “professional”, by my mentors’ standards, in whatever level you coach.

I would encourage players to think about the conversations they have with their clubs and if it feels as if they are fighting tooth and nail for basic needs to be met; I have certainly had those conversations and at times, I still feel as though I am in the wrong to ask for such things because “the club has already done so much for me” or because I “don’t want to offend anyone.”

I am proud of the players in the NWSL who are continuing to demand more from the clubs they play for and the league they play in; my hope is that it empowers female athletes all over the world to advocate for themselves and for clubs to respect that much more needs to be done to truly be considered “professional.”