Naomi Girma shares what it’s like to break into the USWNT

As told to Nancy Armour

I know I watched the 2011 World Cup, but I don’t remember where I was. In 2015, I was at an Olympic Development Program regional camp, and we all watched together. I was like, “Wow, this is incredible.” I’m a fan, you know? I’m rooting for them, wanting them to win.

When I got called into my first full team camp, in October of 2020, that’s when I got the first taste of knowing I could play on this team. I was in college still, and knew I was good in college but I wasn’t sure I would be at the international and professional level.

I actually got hurt shortly after that training camp. I tore my ACL and was out for a year. Getting that taste of being with the national team and having that to work back to and work toward, was really big for me. Once I went pro last season and I was playing at this level day in and day out, living it, going to national team camps regularly, that’s when it became more of a reality for me, knowing I could play on this team and play in a World Cup.

Meet the team: USWNT World Cup roster player cards

The culture and the standards that have made the national team so successful, it’s not told to you. There’s no handbook. But you can feel the intensity when you come to camp. You can feel it. You can feel the focus, the attention to detail, and I think you quickly learn that’s the standard. To make it on this team, you have to live above that standard and keep pushing it. You see it in how people carry themselves, how they train, how they recover, how they take care of their bodies.

I also think anyone going into that environment has some of that ingrained into them. You’re tapping into what you already have.

From my start in soccer, as I’ve leveled up it’s always been, “OK, how am I going to compare here?” Coming in and getting the lay of the land. Still playing my game but also understanding it’s a different level and I need to raise my game. The things I could do at the club level, I couldn’t do in college. The things I could do in college, I couldn’t do in the NWSL or internationally. It’s going to the next level and understanding it’s going to be different and it’s going to be hard and I have to push myself if I want to be successful.

I think it’s helped me to get where I am. I feel like one of the worst things you can do is be complacent – for yourself, for your team. Athletes don’t get to the highest level by being complacent. I think it’s always striving for the next thing. Even if you are playing at the top, on the first team, there’s always another level within yourself.

Before our World Cup qualifying tournament – it was mine and (San Diego Wave teammate) Taylor Kornieck’s first big tournament – Alex (Morgan) took us to coffee and was like, “OK. This is what to expect.”

She gave us a rundown: It’s fast-paced, it’s a quick turnaround between games, there are a lot of meetings.

Obviously I’ve known when this World Cup is going to be for a while. Something that really helped me last year – as I was adjusting to pro life, adjusting to going into national team camps in the middle of the season and then coming back and playing with my club – was trying to stay present in whatever environment I was in. Whether it was World Cup qualifying or a game with the Wave, being there and giving my best to that team or whatever group I was with.

I know the World Cup is this summer. But when you’re in the moment, it doesn’t help thinking like that. What helped was staying locked in wherever I was and that’s what I’ve tried to do.

I think it’s the same for the team as a whole.

We know the expectations for the national team, two-time defending World Cup champions, four titles overall. Managing them? It’s another thing where staying present in the moment helps. All that pressure and everything, it’s outside what we’re trying to do.

Obviously, there’s pressure, there’s expectations. But I don’t think anything from outside is higher than what we have for ourselves. At the end of the day, we’re going to have the great fight, the mentality, the things that have always made the team so successful.

To play for the U.S. at the World Cup would be amazing. It’s hard to put into words. I think it would be really special. Obviously, it would be really exciting as a player.

But when I think about that, the first thing I think about is my family and everyone who’s supported me and helped me. I think it would just be an incredible moment for all of us, together.

Naomi Girma is a 23-year-old defender who made her USWNT debut in April 2022. She was the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NWSL draft, by the San Diego Wave, and won both Rookie of the Year and Defender of the Year honors last season, the first player ever to do so. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Naomi Girma describes what it’s like to earn a place with USWNT