What’s it like to turn on the TV and see former players like Abby Wambach and Heather Mitts playing in the World Cup?
Well it definitely makes it a lot more fun to watch, just to have a rooting interest. But, you know, it’s also a great source of pride for the Gator Nation to have two players on that team.
Does that help recruiting?
I think any time you have athletes that have international experience at that level, it’s a statement about the program. I think it helps.
There seems to be a lot of pressure specifically on Abby, did you speak to her before the team left for Germany?
I saw both Abby and Heather about a month before they left and they were both really excited about it. There’s pressure on the U.S. team no doubt, but those two want to win as much as anybody, so I don’t think there’s any more pressure than what they put on themselves.
What is it going to take for them to advance against such a tough field?
It’s not an easy tournament by any stretch, especially when you get to this stage. They have one more group game, and then quarterfinals and all that stuff starts. So once you get to quarterfinals, everybody’s good. It’s just a matter of executing under pressure.
Do you think Erica Tymrak could be your next player to make the jump to the U.S. national team?
Well she’s certainly gotten some experience with the U-23 team this summer and that’s kind of the launching point to the next team and to the full team. So, we hope so. That would be great.
How will playing with the U-23 team help her this season with UF?
Any time you’re playing at a high level over the summer, we love that. We encourage it tremendously. But I think just playing with different coaches and different players against different competition when you go overseas to do that, the experience is invaluable.
You played three professional teams during your spring schedule, what do you get from playing that level of competition?
We like to challenge ourselves and if that means we have to take a few losses in the process, that’s fine. I think our team learns to play a quicker speed of play and we learn to be a little bit more relentless. There’s a lot of lessons you can take from playing teams like that.
Has anyone’s play jumped out at you this offseason?
This is the time where we spend the least amount of time with them, so until August 3, they’re kind of with Karin [Werth], our strength and conditioning coach. We’re not really actively involved with coaching them, so it’s hard to say during this part of the offseason. It’s our least favorite time as a coach, to say the least.
So with just a little over a month before the season starts, are you starting to get that itch to get back out and coach?
Yeah, I was probably ready about a month ago, so the quicker this goes by the better.
