Kicking It Around With Heather Mitts

Source: Kicking It Around

by Gayle Bryan 05/24/2006

Heather Mitts thought her soccer career might be over when she played her last match with the University of Florida. She saw limited action with the U.S. Women’s National Team earning one cap each in 1999, 2001 and 2002 but hadn’t come close to establishing herself as a regular on the team.

The WUSA gave Mitts’ career new life. The Philadelphia Charge drafted her in the second round of the inaugural WUSA draft. She was a steady presence in the backfield as well as a fan favorite in Philly. Her play for the Charge did not go unnoticed and Mitt’s soon found herself in the National Team mix. Her shot to compete for a slot on the 2003 World Cup roster was cut short by a broken tibia suffered during the WUSA season but she earned a spot on the 2004 Olympic roster and saw action in two games.

Mitts is currently with the National Team in residency and is working hard to transition from a reserve role to a starter. Rumor has it she is playing well. During a short break from residency, Mitts will return to the sidelines to report for MLS.

Tell me about the Japan trip.

It was probably my most favorite trip that I’ve been on except for maybe Greece. It was shorter than usual but I thought we got adapted really easily. The food was great which is always a bonus. We were able to go out and do some sightseeing and really kind of enjoy the country. The people were so nice to us.

On the other side of things, we were able to really turn it on every time we got on the soccer field. Japan is definitely one of the best teams we’ve played just because they’re so organized and they always have numbers around the ball. They’re very attack oriented and bring a lot of counter-attacks. I thought we dealt well with it. They didn’t have too many opportunities. They had a wonderful ball in the first game but besides that I thought we really shut down their attack. The defense played really well. We had all the starters coming in and playing and when the ones off the bench checked in, we didn’t miss a beat. Abby had a great tournament and Heather O’Reilly, Kristine Lilly up top. Tasha Kai came in and obviously scored a goal for us off the bench. I think everybody pretty much contributed to the whole tournament. It was really neat to see because everybody got to play and when they did, I thought that everybody contributed to us being able to play well against Japan.

We’re all looking forward to the domestic games we have coming up. It will be exciting for us to be playing again on home soil. Obviously, these tournaments have been great for all of us, but I think we will all be very excited when we can come home and play in front of our own fans here in the United States.

It has been a while since we’ve gotten to see you play but I have heard from several people including some of your teammates that you are playing really well. How are you feeling about where your game is right now?

I’m flattered that people have good things to say, especially my teammates. I feel very confident right now in the way that I’m playing and growing as a player. I think that the atmosphere on the team is fairly laid back and it allows us to flourish. I mean we’re not scared to make mistakes. I think Greg has come in and done a great job at allowing us to learn and to grow. I feel like I especially have really taken advantage. I’m trying not only to prove to myself but also to the players that are playing around me that they can depend on me. I’ll do my best to make sure that the ball doesn’t wind up in the back of the net, especially on my side. I’ve been enjoying it. I’m having a great time and I think that has something to do with it too. I’m having fun playing.

Would you say that this is a more comfortable playing environment than what you’ve experienced in the past on the National Team?

Yeah and I think that maybe that also has to with the fact that I’ve been playing for a while, and it’s like I’m not really worried about those other things that can hold you back. I’m just playing and worrying about me and enjoying myself.

Talk about the process of moving from more of a reserve roll to veteran leadership on this young team.

It’s definitely a challenge. I think for me especially, it’s one thing if you’re a young player and you’re playing all the time and then veterans leave and you step into that position. It’s definitely a different position coming from someone who was in a reserve spot and trying to take the place of the veterans. I think that I’m trying to do my best at stepping up and being more of a leader, but at the same time not trying to out do those players like Kristine Lilly, Shannon Boxx, Christie Pearce and Cat Reddick that have been here longer than I have.

There aren’t many that have been there longer. It’s a pretty young team.

So it’s kind of a happy medium trying to lead in ways that you possibly can and maybe just by leading by example on the field. Making sure that everybody here at residency is enjoying herself. I think that’s really important to help players grow.

How is residency?

I think it’s been great. Our results have been great in the tournament. You’re seeing a lot of younger players come in and get more confidence. I think one thing that you’ll notice the most in the residency process is how everybody is starting to be on the same page. And whether or not it’s the defense working together; and what we do is we kind of, we’ll break it down and defense will work together and midfield and forwards will work together and then the coach will put it together and we’ll all be on the same page. I’ve noticed that happening.

Typical day?

Pick up some breakfast. Drive over to practice. We usually get there about an hour before hand to go through rehab or whatever you need to do to get prepared for practice. Usually we have it about 10:30. It varies but typically it’s around 10:30. Usually we try to get in a lift a couple of days a week after practice. A lot of times we’ll go to lunch with a couple of the players or on our own and then pretty much the rest of the day you end up spending time doing your lifts or your extra work, then you’re on your own. You do have a lot of time on your own. A lot of the players live together or we live in the same place, so we try to hang out as much as possible. It’s not only on the field that we’re playing together, but off the field we’re spending a lot of time with one another.

Who are you living with?

I’m actually living by myself but I live in the same building as 10 other players. So there’s a bunch of us. There will be 11 of us because Tina Frimpong is moving in here too.

Who has impressed you in camp?

Heather O’Reilly always impresses me with her work ethic. I think that Pino (Megan Rapinoe), she’s one of the youngest players that we have but she hasn’t been too intimidated. It’s funny because a lot of the players are young but they’re not new. Megan Rapinoe just came into this camp and she’s been doing great.

What do you see as the strengths in your game?

I like to attack a lot out of the back. I like to be able to help my team get scoring chances. I think just the way that my play with the four backs you really have to be able to rotate a lot and so I just think that I like to just try to be very active in the attack as well strong defense.

Greg has been playing you more on the right lately.

Yeah, which has been nice.

How is your game evolving? What parts of your game are you trying to shore up?

A lot of stuff. I think my heading presence has become better. I’m feeling more confident. I don’t think anything has really changed; just my confidence is better through a lot of practice. They’ve been working with us a ton on our heading. Offensively, just early crosses and just crossing to be able to give us the opportunity to score.

Best moment on the field?

The first thing that would come to mind is just winning the Olympics. Nothing really compares to that. Also, winning the national championship at Florida. It was obviously different but I was actually on the field when we won the national championship at Florida, but just as far as soccer moments, winning the Olympics was the best.

Worst?

Two-fold. I would say my final game of college soccer. I wasn’t sure where my future was in soccer. I thought that was the end of it. But then also, breaking my leg before the World Cup.

Talk about the WUSA a little. You weren’t established on the National Team yet. What was that experience like for you?

No, I wasn’t. I went to the combine not knowing what to expect, but luckily I got drafted to Philadelphia and once again we were the only team playing on turf. I didn’t really know how to feel about that but just playing in the WUSA, being in Philly, our fan base and just the way the WUSA was structured was just a dream come true. I absolutely loved it and was devastated when I found out it wasn’t going to come back. I just cried and did all these interviews and tried to be so professional about it and ended up breaking down at the end because I couldn’t believe that it was no longer going to be around. Not only for selfish reasons, for myself, but also for just the fact that your fans and all the girls that were coming out of college no longer had something to look forward to. Just for the future of soccer here in the United States, it was just so unfortunate.

Do you think you would have made the jump to the National Team without the WUSA?

Definitely not. There’s no way. I don’t know where I would have been seen playing. I mean the WUSA definitely is the reason I made the National Team. I think it’s the same story for Shannon Boxx. Fotopolous got back in. I mean there was no other opportunity to be seen at the highest level and to be asked into the National Team.

Will you be working any MLS games this year?

Actually, the next two weeks. It just kind of worked out that we had some off time and they had these games that Brandi couldn’t do so …

I guess she’s getting pretty close isn’t she?

Yeah, so it worked out to be a good opportunity for me to get more experience with MLS.

Is that something that you enjoy?

I do. It’s a huge challenge for me and I love challenges. It’s something that I enjoy doing and hopefully I’ll be able to become more into it once I’m done playing soccer.