Former U.S. Women’s National Team soccer player Tina Ellertson gets emotional watching this year’s team.
She recognizes the history, the growth and the magnitude of the past few weeks that positioned the U.S. on the doorstep of a fourth World Cup title. The U.S. plays the Netherlands at 8 a.m. Sunday in the World Cup final in France.
“There’s a lot of women who have paved the way so these young women could shine,” said Ellertson, a Vancouver native who coaches club soccer for FC Salmon Creek. “This team sees all that came before them, and they get it. It’s a special thing.”
Ellertson was a member of the national team that took bronze in the 2007 World Cup. She retired from soccer in 2014, and has focused on her coaching career since. She is also an assistant for the U.S. junior national team and a scout for the national team.
And she sees something rather remarkable in what has been a controversial month for the U.S. women in France.
From “over-celebrating” a 13-0 win over Thailand in the group stage to Megan Rapinoe’s explicit comments about visiting the White House, the team has drawn plenty of headlines outside the field of play.
Most recently, it was Alex Morgan’s tea-sipping celebration in a 2-1 semifinal win over England that drew ire from the social media pitchforks and torches’ contingent.
The outrage frustrates Ellertson.
“Why do they have to be pretty princesses and sit in a box and do what they’re told?” she asks.
But she also sees the positives in the discussion.
“How cool is it that they’re being talked about as much as they are?”
It’s given this year’s 23 players a unique platform to stand up for the issues they’re passionate about, whether that be Rapinoe fighting for LGBTQ rights, or Alex Morgan and company voicing their displeasure in the pay inequality.
Since the team’s first World Cup in 1991, women national players have always stood up for what they believed in, Ellertson said. Now their voices are louder than ever.
As a daughter of two immigrants, “the American dream lives in me”, Ellertson says. And while she may have approached things differently, she’s all for players standing up and speaking out.
“Those who were involved and had the opportunity to play, we saw it. Our country now is seeing it,” Ellertson said. “I love that they’re using their voice to inspire and invoke change. I think that’s what makes it special.”
Ellertson remembers watching the 1999 World Cup with her twin sister, Crystal Frimpong. They were 17.
Ellertson was inspired by her predecessors: Briana Scurry (“who looked like me”), Kristine Lilly and Kate Markgraf (“who had this spunky hair and was so unique but so strong”).
She sees the same thing happening with her daughters and other young girls she coaches.
“What an example they have to look at, and more access to that example,” Ellertson said. “They see things they can grab on to and say ‘Oh that’s me.’ It pushes them to want to be more. It is so empowering.”
Ellertson’s hope is a simple one: That people stop focusing on the controversial celebrations or White House comments, and start realizing what exactly they are watching: the best team in the world, as she puts it.
On Sunday, she has no doubt the U.S. will top Netherlands for a second consecutive World Cup title. But more importantly, she hopes it puts to rest the outrage and gives way to a nation supporting its female athletes.
“Can it? In the future, in 2023, can we just let women be strong, powerful, badass competitors?”
