Name: Carli Lloyd
Position: Central Midfielder
Career Goals: 105
Team: United States Women’s National Soccer Team and Sky Blue FC
Strengths: ability to shoot from distance, good in space, accurate placement and fitness
Weaknesses: age, mental toughness, control of the ball and physical power
Carli Lloyd possesses a golden biography, which shines with the tint of stellar athleticism.
2015—First woman to score a hat trick in a final in the FIFA Women’s World Cup
2015—U.S. Soccer Player of the Year
2015—FIFA World Player of the Year
2016—FIFA World Player of the Year
2017—Inductee into the New Jersey Hall of Fame
Lloyd did not just earn the title of greatest within the U.S. borders. No—FIFA named her the greatest in the WORLD, not one, but two years in row.
Kim McCauley, SB Nation writer, said, “Carli Lloyd is a big-time player who scores big-time goals in big-time games.”
In her profile on the U.S. Soccer website, they describe Lloyd as having “unparalleled work ethic.”
If you type name Carli Lloyd into any internet search engine, it would take you less than 30 seconds to discover her insane talent and soccer ability. Just check out videos of some of her goals: one placed in the back of the net from 50 yards out.
Cue: jaw drop.
However, a starting position on the women’s national team was not just gifted to Lloyd in beautiful red, white and blue wrapping paper. She had to work for it. But it wasn’t just work. There are only 26 players on the women’s national team roster and only eleven earn a starting position.
What one trait sets Lloyd apart? What one trait took her from a great player to the world’s best?
My answer…
AUDACITY
Merriam-Webster defines audacity as the willingness to take bold risks.
Lloyd grew up being the best. Coaches told her she was the best on the team and her skill proved it. In college, she played at Rutgers University in the fall and the U-21 team in the spring.
Until, she got cut.
(did you need to blink your eyes and check your vision on that one?)
You read that right. Carli Lloyd—2016 FIFA World Player of the Year—cut from the U-21 team.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Lloyd said, “At that point, I was ready to hang up my cleats.”
Then…BOOM… enter a new a personal coach—James Galanis.
“James identified my weaknesses,” Lloyd said. “No other coach had done that. I had coaches tell me that I’m great and that I’m the best. When I met James, he told me I had a long way to go. James’s philosophy is based on five pillars: physical power, mental toughness, character, technical skills, and tactical awareness. My tactical awareness and technique were fairly decent. But my mental toughness, physical power, and character were really, really weak. When I first met James, I was very unfit. I’d blame coaches and teammates for things that I wouldn’t take responsibility for. At that point, I knew some things had to change.”
Lloyd could have hung up her cleats. She could have finished her time at Rutgers and then gone on to coach some travel club teenage girls’ team. BUT SHE DIDN’T. She took a bold risk with Galanis. She allowed him to come in and call out her weaknesses. She let him transform her game.
Being vulnerable and admitting your weaknesses is difficult, especially for professional athletes. Lloyd took a bold risk and look where she is today: the women’s national team.
However, Lloyd again will have to channel her inner audacity. As the U.S. women’s team travels on the road to France for the 2019 World Cup in seven months, Lloyd sits the bench, playing a supporting, substitute role. No longer playing the central midfielder position, Coach Jill Ellis wants Lloyd to focus solely on scoring goals from a central striker position.
At 36 years old, maybe Lloyd should think about relishing and making the most of…
NO—I can’t even believe I almost typed that. Don’t think for a minute Lloyd expresses any amount of happiness at her current playing minutes.
Her audacious nature won’t let her sit contently, she’ll push for that starting spot in 2019.
This post is one part of a blog written for Dr. Philip Patterson’s Feature Writing class.
0
0
Be First to Comment