The Courage To Succeed

All Aboard! (Part II)

Jamey: Welcome, everyone, to Traine at the Seaboard Railroad Station and All Aboard! My name is Jamey Davidson and I am team administrator for the North Carolina Courage. You've all had a chance to get up-close-and-personal with our players during the opening portion of this evening. Now, you get to hear them answer questions that might make them squirm, might cause them to rip on each other, and might be more than you'd ever want to know about them. You had an opportunity when you came in tonight to make submissions for this part of the evening, either for a specific player, a specific panel, or in general. With that said, let's bring up the club's band of national team players, minus a couple. Debinha, Lindsay Agnew, Deanne Rose, Abby Erceg, Denise O'Sullivan, Casey Murphy, and Merritt Mathias.

The seven women came up to the impromptu stage and took their seats. Jamie stood to the side and read off the first question. "This one is for the panel in general. Who was or is the best roommate and the worst roommate you've been assigned at camp?"

Debinha: Best is Marta. Worst is Formiga because it's like rooming with your aunt or mother, she's so old.

A fair portion of the room laughed at the Brazilian's insinuation concerning the 7-time Women's World Cup participant.

Abby: The best has to be Erin Naylor. Quiet, thoughtful, not getting into the kind of shenanigans that some of our US-based players have. As for worst....I'll go with Ali Riley, just because she is such a slob, having her clothes and everything all over the room.

Jamey: Probably learned that from Kelley O'Hara at Stanford.

Lindsay: Best by a mile is Nichelle Prince. Worst I'd have to say is a tie between Shelina Zadorsky and Allysha Chapman because both of them get up WAY too early in the morning to prepare themselves for the day.

Jamey: The next one is sort of personal and since it could apply to all of you, I don't have a specific person to whom this is asked. What are the benefits and downfalls of "having feelings" for a current or former teammate?

The players took a few seconds to think over the question, then Abby Erceg led off.

Abby: Of the seven players up here, I am the only one in a confirmed relationship with another member of the Courage, Kristen Hamilton. The biggest upside of being together with a teammate, either current or former, is the commonality of experience you have. The two of us can talk about what happened during practice or what was happening behind the scenes and know that the other person understands why we're feeling as we do. As for downfall, it is the potential for the on-field and off-field to bleed together. Any of the others want to jump in on this?

Lindsay: My girlfriend and I got together after I was traded from Washington to Houston during the 2018 NWSL Draft. The two of us had both played for the Spirit during the 2017 season and that's where the foundation was set for us to determine if we wanted to be more. On top of what Abby said, one downside I see from having a long-distance relationship with another gay athlete is the potential to get played by your partner, in that she has a plausible heterosexual relationship that can be trotted out publicly if the fear of being outed gets to be too much.

Sam Mewis and Abby Dahlkemper nodded along in complete understanding, seeing that they had that type of relationship only for Sam to elope in the 2018 off-season with someone back in the Boston area, which eventually led to Abby marrying Aaron at the beginning of 2021.

Merritt: I've deliberately stayed away from that dilemma because, as Cap said, the 24/7 nature of the relationship makes it difficult if not impossible to keep work and home separate.