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The project in collaboration with non-profit
Common Goal was announced as part of U.S. defender Naomi Girma's
emotional Players' Tribune post remembering her Stanford
University team mate Katie Meyer, who died by suicide in March
2022.
"Any time I talk about Katie it's obviously emotional, and then
just with everything coming out today, it kind of brings all
those feelings back to the surface," said forward Sophia Smith,
who also played at Stanford.
"Everything that we do is now for Katie."
The Common Goal initiative will provide mental health training
to coaches from more than 15 youth sports organizations,
focusing on issues including anxiety, depression and loneliness,
after the World Cup.
"It’s long overdue that our soccer communities put mental health
at the forefront when we discuss player care," Common Goal USA
Executive Director Lilli Barrett-O’Keefe said in a statement.
The United States are seeking an unprecedented third consecutive
title, and fifth overall, at the tournament in Australia and New
Zealand, kicking off their campaign on Saturday against Vietnam.
Defender Emily Fox, who is competing in her first World Cup,
said that the squad frequently discuss the "external pressures"
that come with competing at the highest level of their sport.
"I have a sports psych that I talk to that really helps me, and
then it's (about) leaning on your team mates who are sharing the
experience with you," said Fox.
The American soccer players are the latest athletes to take up
the cause of mental health, after Olympic gymnastics champion
Simone Biles and four-times tennis major winner Naomi Osaka
helped flip the narrative on a topic once seen as taboo in
high-level sport.
"A big thing is leaning on your team mates and knowing that
we're all in this together," said Smith. "Whatever those
emotions may be."
(Reporting by Nathan Frandino in Auckland, writing by Amy
Tennery; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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