USWNT defender Naomi Girma on championing representation and inclusion across football: 'I want it to be my legacy'
The USWNT Player of the Year has turned a heartbreaking loss and channeled it into something good, as she hopes to break down the stigma of mental health in football.
Football
Naomi Girma knows how impactful using your voice and stage can be.
Watching the national team as she came through the football ranks, the 23-year-old was always ‘amazed’ by the change players like Megan Rapinoe were able to invoke by using their platform to back a cause – to the point of wondering what impact she herself could make.
On the cusp of her third year as a full-time professional, she no longer needs to wonder what could be, but can now revel in what she has been able to help achieve.
In helping to create a space that tackles the stigma of mental health in football, the San Diego star has already begun the road to making the sport a better place for all.
In an exclusive interview with Olympics.com, the USWNT Player of the Year reveals exactly the kind of legacy she wants to leave off the pitch, while also dissecting her game on the pitch ahead of the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup.
Naomi Girma on tackling mental health in sports
As part of her mission to leave the game of football as one that is more ‘inclusive and accessible’, Girma has been at the heart of creating the Create the Space retreat in collaboration with Common Goal.
In her own words, Naomi explains the aim of the retreat and why it holds such a special place in her heart.
“Create the Space has been a passion project for me,” she began.
“It was sparked from losing my best friend [Katie Meyer] to suicide and just want to do something to continue the conversation [around] mental heatlh and sports.
“But also to take action and create some real change with it.”
Common Goal, an organisation committed uniting the football community for good, helped bring the idea to life, with the first retreat launching in January 2024.
“I thought it was a really great way to sprink mental health skills through youth soccer and professional soccer as well.
“We brought in 20 NWSL players and 25 youth coaches, and it was really inspiring to see how much everyone was willing to learn and wanted to make a difference in their own community.”
The launch of Create the Space was a roaring success, one which Naomi hopes will grow and get bigger and bigger.
“When you’re starting something like this, you don’t really know how it’s going to go, so I felt really happy that people felt like it was a positive experience and felt like it was a meaningful experience,” she continued.
“[They are] now feeling better going into their pre-seasons or going back to their clubs as coaches and knowing how they can support other people and how they can support themselves. I’m hoping Create the Space is something that just grows bigger and bigger.”
Regardless of what she goes on to achieve on the pitch, what Girma has created with this retreat has the potential to change any stigma surrounding mental health in football while also poignantly paying homage to the memory of her best friend.
It is a legacy that spans the field of play, as she adds: “I want my legacy to be someone who just champions representation and everyone feeling included in every space they walked into.
“And, hopefully, left the game of soccer as one that was more inclusive and accessible.”
Naomi Girma during the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
Girma: “I still have pinch me moments”
It doesn’t matter whether it is a first time experience or something she has done multiple times before – for Girma, there are some moments in this job that are pinch me moments.
“I did not imagine that as a kid [I’d be where I am now], I think I have the pinch me moment anytime something happens,” she told us, reminiscing on some of these big occasions.
“Most national team games, I feel that with Wave games. Just to be able to compete at the highest level is such an honour and something I never thought would happen, but I’m so grateful that it did.”
Girma burst onto the sign in 2022, hand-picked by club coach Casey Stoney in the first round of the draft, and has not looked back since.
From her national team call up to winning the NWSL Shield, and recently being named USWNT’s Footballer of the Year, it is hard to believe she has been playing full-time professionally for two years, heading into her third.
Naomi Girma: Excited to work with Emma Hayes
Working under Stoney has been a revelation for Girma, who gets to learn under one of England’s most successful defenders in her own career.
“[Casey] has helped me a lot. I feel really lucky to have been with Casey from the start of my professional career,” Girma explains.
“I think the translation can be really difficult from college to being professional and she helped me and guided me in a lot of different ways. I think any time your coach is one of the best in your position it’s really helpful and you learn a lot!”
Dubbed as one of the best ball-playing centre-backs in the world, she reveals that it is Stoney who has really helped her elevate her footwork at the back.
“Something that she really pays attention to that I hadn’t had a coach emphasise in the past is footwork. I think it’s something that is hard to understand and know how to teach unless you've been in that position.
‘She’ll go out and show us what it should look like and then it makes it easier to work. It is a detail she’s really emphasised that I think has helped me a lot.”
Girma will soon have the influence of another English coach come the Paris 2024 Olympics, as Emma Hayes departs Chelsea to take over the reigns of the USWNT.
"I'm really excited to work under Emma. I've heard a lot of good things. And, yeah, she's a winner. And I think, for us, just like getting that new spark, new energy will be really good," Girma said.
