U.S. women’s national team forward Jaedyn Shaw has spoken out about her Vietnamese heritage as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States.
The 19-year-old has quickly marked herself as one of the national team’s biggest stars, becoming the first player to ever score a goal in each of her first five USWNT starts.
Shaw’s father is Black and her mother is Vietnamese, making her the first Vietnamese-American to ever represent the USWNT. The San Diego Wave forward spoke about her background in a U.S. Soccer video for AAPI Heritage Month.
“Being the first Vietnamese-American to play on the U.S. women’s national team is a complete honor,” she added. “I feel like putting on this jersey at all is an honor, but being able to represent more than that, I think that is a really cool opportunity for me to inspire little girls that maybe have a similar heritage and background as me.”
The USWNT opened the 2023 World Cup with a 3-0 win over Vietnam. Shaw, who wasn’t on the roster and watched from home, said that match was particularly meaningful to her.
“It was a cool moment for me watching the U.S. women’s national team’s opening game in the World Cup against Vietnam,” she said. “I think that it was a little weird at first because technically at that time I could have played for [Vietnam] if I really wanted to. But I think that it’s just so cool that being my heritage and then also being able to represent the U.S. women’s team now.”
Watch Shaw discuss Vietnamese heritage
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