City’s No. 1 soccer sensation hoping to make history

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This article was published 01/06/2015 (4139 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg native Desiree Scott and her Team Canada teammates travel to Edmonton Tuesday in advance of Saturday’s 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup opening game against China.

The 24-country tournament has games spread across the country — in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton.

The 27-year-old Scott has now spent five years with the national team, putting 90 international appearances on her resume, which includes an Olympic bronze medal in 2012.

Monday, in between training sessions and as final preparations are winding up for Team Canada, she spoke to Free Press sportswriter Tim Campbell via phone from Mississauga, Ont.

Free Press: The countdown is getting low, tell us how you’re feeling with the World Cup about to start.

Desiree Scott: “We’re five days out and it’s a really, really exciting time. We’re just here training, getting prepped for June 6 and it’s just been little details, now, the finer things, and we’re getting ready for that opening match and we’re excited.”

FP: In your blog, you described the tournament as an “opportunity of a lifetime.” That implies a lot of excitement, but also some pressure. How do you gauge those?

Scott: “There’s a fine balance between the pressure and the excitement of playing on home soil here. We have an opportunity, as I said, to change some lives and get people excited about soccer in this country and hopefully make history and win a World Cup and I think we’ve just got to use that as motivation for us to push ourselves to keep thriving and striving for that.”

FP: You mentioned the buzz with fans. Have you ever encountered anything like this before and could you compare it?

Scott: “Post-London (2012 Olympics), we felt the vibe of the crowd and the support they gave us when we came back. Here, Canada’s been behind through all the training and all the prep, we’ve done that in Vancouver and in various cities across the country, so you really do feel the support. As the days get closer and closer, there are more and more people rooting for us. During the training we just had, there was a man on the street yelling at us, ‘Go Canada,’ so you can feel the vibe and that’s really exciting.”

FP: You said recently you wonder if you’ve done enough to get ready for this World Cup. Preparation self-questions are common to athletes in almost every sport. How often have you wondered about it?

Scott: “It ebbs and flows. You get those moments in training when it doesn’t go as well as you want, those little thoughts come into the back of your mind because we have been preparing for this for so long. We only get one shot at things and you want to make sure you’ve done everything you possibly can to ensure yourself the best opportunity to do well for this team. It comes and goes, those moments. Not every day is going to be perfect. I think the preparation we’ve put in over the last eight months has been fantastic. Our coaching staff has prepared us physically, mentally. Every inch of what needed to have covered has been covered. I think it’s about trusting that now, doing what we’ve been working on and enjoying the ride.”

FP: Your words were that not every day is “sunshine and lollipops” when you get ready for something this big. Could you give fans a little glimpse of what one those average, non-glamourous training days looks like?

Scott: “Sure. Our day usually starts at 7:30 or 8 a.m., depending on whether it’s a morning or afternoon session. We get started by having breakfast then we have a pre-training meeting just to go over what we’re working on that day, maybe preparing for a certain team like China or New Zealand in our group, and then we’ll go off to training for a couple of hours. Then post-training, it’s about the recovery so then we’re in the ice baths and getting lunch in to replenish the fuel there. And later we’ll have treatment times and we’ll be in the mind room, mentally preparing, and we’ll be in the ‘Grow Room’, as we call it, watching training video and just seeing if there are any details that we could work out or fix. And then, it’s relaxing and staying hydrated. It’s an all-day thing, a lifestyle for us and it’s not just two hours on the training pitch that a lot of people may think we just kick the ball around. The day starts at 8 and usually ends around 8 p.m. We go all day with our schedule.”

FP: So I have to ask, what’s a mind room?

Scott: “That is where our mental trainer, Alex, has things set up. We go in there just to have a chat with our brain man, as we call him, or we get set up with probes on our brains and we kind of play games in there. It’s all about controlling your brain under stressful situations. So we go in there and visualize in-game and we have the electrodes hooked up to our heads and we train our brains in that room.”

FP: You and the team had a Salon Sunday, as you called it, on the weekend. What’s that all about?

Scott: “We were fortunate enough to have one of our teammates’ cousins who owns a salon here in Mississauga. So she was able to set us up with a little spa day so everyone could go get their nails done, their hair done. We have a motto: ‘Look good. Feel good. Play good.’ So it was just about getting some relaxation in, a little pampering and get refreshed. It’s June now and we’re ready to roll. It was a good way to spend a day off, for sure.”

FP: There’s travel for the team for the World Cup. You’re in the east now, head to Edmonton, then you have another (group) game in the east (Montreal), then the playoff games are mostly in the west. How’s that going to affect things?

Scott: “That travel is… hopefully we can stay on the West Coast as much as possible. I think it’s just about preparing for each match. Our recovery after each match is key, the sleeping, the regeneration will be important. We’ve traveled. We pretty much live in our suitcases so we’re used to that aspect of it. It’s just about doing what we can as soon as we get off the plane, with compression socks and recovery tights, those little things. It (travel) isn’t going to affect us too much.”

FP: Do you know yet how many family members or friends will be following and attending your games?

Scott: “My mom and my brother and my aunt will be in Edmonton for the first two games. That’s super-exciting. Then depending how we do outside of our group, my mom says she’ll for sure fly out to the final. If we make it to that, she’ll be there. But right now it’s the group stage that’s the focus for them. The majority of my friends and family that won’t be coming will be following along on TV and social media.”

FP: What from the 2011 World Cup in Germany and the 2012 Olympics will help you with the weeks ahead?

Scott: “At the 2011 World Cup we were at rock bottom. We know what that feels like and I think it’s now that we know what we’re like when we’re at our worst and we’ve seen ourselves in London when we were at our best, winning a bronze medal. So I think it’s about finding balance to deal with any situation that will come at us, good or bad. And I think we’ve grown from 2011 and grown from 2012. We’re a fresh team coming into this World Cup. We have a lot of experience behind us, good and bad moments.”

FP: In your official Team Canada bio, you describe yourself as a hopeless romantic. What qualifies you to be that?

Scott: “Anyone that knows me knows that I wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m very emotional. I cry at everything. I feel for the person, whether it’s on a TV commercial or a TV show. I’m that person in that moment. And yeah, I’m that hopeless romantic because I’m looking for love and that’s what I’m all about.”

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FP: What do you remember about your very first soccer experience in the Maples when you were eight years old?

Scott: “That’s a long time ago. I remember having a little afro; my mom cut that for me. And it was just about enjoying it and having fun. I was a floater back then, when you didn’t really have to have any positions. I could go wherever I wanted, play free and have fun. Which is was very cool.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca