Jaedyn Shaw’s first U.S. women’s national team camp is, per the San Diego Wave attacker herself, all about learning as much as possible.
The 18-year-old is one of the new names on USWNT interim coach Twila Kilgore’s first roster for an upcoming pair of friendlies against South Africa on September 21 and 24. According to Shaw, the objective is to ease in, gain her footing in a new environment, and take plenty of lessons from her first senior-level camp.
“I’ve always loved high pressures moments,” Shaw told reporters on Thursday. “I have been told that this is a no-pressure camp, just getting my feet in the water and kind of enjoying the experience, and that’s something that I’m really taking to heart. I’m just trying to go and learn as much as I can, gain as much as I can from this experience.”
Shaw added that getting the call was “an amazing, happy moment for me,” but noted that she can’t afford to lose focus between now and when she steps on the plane to Cincinnati.
“I kind of had to bring it down a bit, to make sure that I’m still focusing on what I have going on in front of me with [San Diego] and the game coming up on Saturday,” said Shaw.
Still, there was time for a little excitement, especially from her family.
“First person I called was my mother,” said a laughing Shaw, “She was practically crying through the phone, per usual.”
surfin’ usa 🏄♀️ pic.twitter.com/oHntA499TM
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) September 12, 2023
San Diego manager Casey Stoney called Shaw “a quality player with huge potential and a huge amount of talent,” and added that the call-up was “deserved” in her eyes.
“It’s a great opportunity for her to go in without any pressure,” said Stoney, whose own international career spanning 130 caps began with a first cap at the same age as Shaw. “Being in a senior environment is very different than being in a youth environment. I think she’ll go in and she’ll show her quality. It’s just for her, going in and soaking it all up, soaking in the experience.”
While much of that will of course pertain to improving her craft as a player, Shaw said she’s also had plenty of more practical questions for her Wave teammate Naomi Girma.
“I feel like I’ve already like bombarded [Girma] with a bunch of questions,” said Shaw. “One of them was seating arrangements, on the bus, in the meetings. That was something that I know a lot of teams, you kind of have [assigned seats]. I know we do, like I have my front row seat…I was like, ‘Where do I sit?’
“I think another thing was, how do the training kits fit, so I know what size to get? And then there was like, if I need to bring a notebook, what do you pack? Like that kind of stuff. Literally not even soccer-based. It’s just stuff off the field.”
Shaw highlighted the World Cup stretch as a particular moment of growth as a player, with the Wave leaning more heavily on her with international attacking players like Alex Morgan and Sofia Jakobsson heading off to the World Cup.
“I think, for me this season, at least when all of our international girls left, I had to kind of take a different role and be okay with playing different positions, or taking more of, I guess a leadership role,” explained Shaw. “Kind of — not putting the team on my back — but allowing myself to carry more of the weight than just coming in as a young player and doing whatever.”
Per Stoney, helping Shaw take that next step has been “an absolute dream” because the youngster’s focus level is so high.
“Jae’s unbelievable,” said Stoney. “She has nothing in her mind other than being the best player in the world: ‘What am I going to do to make myself better?’ You know, she’s a dream to manage, in that sense, an absolute dream. She’s very coachable, she wants to be the best.”
The Wave head coach noted that after last season’s emphasis was on “building [Shaw’s] physical capacity” as she adjusted to the exhausting speed of play in the NWSL, the focus has shifted to the technical side.
“She’s been utilized in [all] top four positions: wide left, wide right, [No. 9] and also as a [No. 10],” explained Stoney. “I think now, she’s played more of a 10 role, it’s how she can position herself between the lines, how she can face forward. Because once she gets to faced forward with the body position, her ability to play a through ball is some of the best I’ve ever seen. She sees things other people don’t see.”
Still, despite Shaw’s rapid rise, Stoney says it’s important that the Texas native maintains a process-oriented focus rather than only concerning herself with results.
“She’s got a lot of maturity in certain ways, in terms of wanting to be the best, but also remembering she’s still 18,” said Stoney. “I think it’s important that while she’s trying to get to the top, she enjoys the journey to the top.”
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