It was a comeback celebrated by Audi Field’s 16,000-person crowd when Trinity Rodman won rounds of championships during the shutdown at Portland Thorns in the NWSL on August 3. A small corner of Wimbleton, South London, was also very happy at that moment.
She said she might never be fully cured due to a back injury, so the U.S. Women’s National Team forward successfully resumed football after four months of absence. After her volley was 2-1 win to win the Holy Spirit, the 23-year-old overcomes it with emotion because she thinks she may not experience it again.
“That's just the hardest thing I have to go through, hurt and everything,” Rodman told ESPN. “I'm back, sitting at home in the crowd behind me, scoring a goal like this – you see I'm buried. I won't miss it.”
Thousands of miles away is a football center goal, renting for personal purposes for five people, who feel like a small but proud part of the Rodman comeback trail.
At the end of June, last summer's French Olympic champion Rodman supported her boyfriend, the sixth-ranked world-ranked professional tennis player Ben Shelton, who reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. Rodman just made his mark from the ad campaign for Adidas' F50 SparkFusion women's football boots, then walked to the goal reception desk and asked manager Barry Horsnell if he could hire one of the (artificial turf) courts.
Horsnell didn't know who this person was in the beginning, but felt that she was very famous. Her American accent and the fact that she appeared with one of her coach Josh Angulo, the chiropractologist Josh Angulo, who accompanied her spiritual team in Europe, stirred up his interest.
Trinity Rodman signed the ball at goal Wimbledon. (Barry Horsnell/Target Wimbledon)
“I’m a good housekeeper, so I’ll ask (people’s) questions,” Hosnell told sports. “She said she was playing tennis here and her other half was playing at Wimbledon.
“I said, 'I really want to pretend I know who you are, but I don't. She just laughed and was nice about it.”
Rodman started training at the 7th Stadium, which is 7 people away from the facility, after the National of Uruguay. When she ran the drill for an hour and a half, Hosnell tweeted Rodman's name into Google and was blown away by her star-level. Rodman rented the stadium that day for £6 per person (just over $8). This was the last time she had to do it.
Horsnell refused to charge them on a later visit, but did ask one thing-if the fans spotted Rodman training on his course, next to the school where training and motorcycles were trained next to the golf driving range, could she take a photo with them? Rodman agreed, and soon after, locals found her pace in their own pace and repeatedly found the top corner during the shooting exercise.
The Sophie Sisters and Emily Day train in the center. Sophie is 13, a centre-back at Brighton & Hove Albion Academy, 90 minutes’ drive to the south, 10-year-old Emily’s youth pathway at West London Club west of Chelsea.
“Girls have a lot of good female role models, and now there are more opportunities,” their father, Richard, said after discovering Rodman training here. “The opportunity does not exist. them There is – but they paved the way for it. ”
Wimbledon's targeted customers are used to celebrity visitors. From there, England's father Nigel James runs his youth academy, from which his daughter and son appear, with Chelsea stars Lauren and Reece James.
“There was a girl training in Nigel James' elite coach; she was having a one-on-one meeting with the coach. I watched the Trinity walk out and I thought, 'I wonder if she will know her'.” “Once the Trinity walks out, you can see the girl's eyes bright.”
But, like when Horsnell first arrived, not everyone recognized Rodman.
Every few minutes, you drive behind the central court, running back and forth from the suburbs of New Malden and Reins Park, running back and forth along the Waterloo Station in central London or the city’s southwest towns such as Richmond.
“Hundreds of people have passed and they won't realize who is training on that court. When she walks over, some people are playing on other courts, and that doesn't know who they are,” Hosnell said. “It's angry, isn't it?”
Rodman – Front row, second left – Watch boyfriend Sheldon at Wimbledon (Mike Hewitt/Getty image)
Rodman is in London, and 22-year-old Shelton was eventually beaten by Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals. A month before that, she had been watching in Paris when he entered the fourth round of the French Open, where he was also defeated by ultimate champion Carlos Alcaraz.
When Shelton won the Canadian Open a week ago, Rodman now carries the spirit and builds her own meeting record to watch on TV as her partner won his first ATP Masters 1000 title. She visited the Cincinnati Masters before the U.S. Open which started this week in New York, watching him win the opening match against Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
Back at Wimbledon, they were still surprised by the fact that Rodman was training there. Horsnell and his colleagues were inspired to win the European Championship in Switzerland for the second time in a row.
“Even if we only met her a few times in those weeks, seeing her score was a last-minute goal and emotionally connected to us more emotionally than it might have been before,” he said. “You'll be happy for anyone who scored last-minute goals, but we know what that means for her and are glad we can help play a small part.”
Trinity Rodman celebrates after winning the Stop Time Championship for Spirit (Roger Wimmer/iSi Photos via Getty Images)
“There is no arrogance, and the celebrations she celebrates for this goal is the same. It's so humble that she's happy to score – it's exactly what her experience. I now know how big a star she is in America and women's football now, but every day I meet her, she's so normal.”
Horsnell came out with Rodman's football for his 11-year-old niece.
“I showed her the ball, she didn’t know who signed it.
Rodman won't be forgotten by these parts any time soon.
(Top photo: Dustin Satloff/NWSL via Getty Images)