Adrienne Wilson\u2019s opportunity of a lifetime proved to be a whirlwind two-and-a-half week excursion of ups and downs that the Kent transplant will never forget.<\/p>\n
By the time it was complete, Wilson was able to celebrate the Fourth of July like never before \u2013 in a different country, with a title in hand, and with plenty of new friends.<\/p>\n
Wilson, who was just one of 45 players nation wide to be chosen for the USA Football\u2019s Women\u2019s National team, spent from June 19-23 in the sweltering heat of Austin, Texas before bolting to Sweden for the first-ever Women\u2019s World Championship from June 27-July 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d said Wilson, a wide receiver for the Seattle Majestics, who play their home games at French Field. \u201cIt was awesome to be able to play with all the players from around the states. It was an incredible feeling. It was just such a good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National team represented the U.S. in the Women\u2019s World Championship, which pitted six teams from six different countries in a week-long football extravaganza at Stockholm, Sweden\u2019s Zinkensdamms IP Stadium.<\/p>\n
Wilson and Team USA opened the World Championship tour with a convincing 63-0 victory over Austria. The Majestics\u2019 standout pulled in a 2-point conversion in the win. Team USA continued to dominate in the semifinals, trouncing Finland 72-0 before celebrating the Fourth of July a day early, ripping Canada 66-0 for the title.<\/p>\n
Wilson, who has been playing football for three years, was initially overwhelmed by the competition level of her peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of my teammates have been playing like six years,\u201d said the lanky, 5-foot-9 speedster. \u201cI felt like a baby. To realize I am still very new to the sport, I think I know quite a bit. When I first showed up and looked around, a lot of the women were just as skilled as me. It was a little overwhelming, but once I got into it, I realized that we all were chosen for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Wilson\u2019s case, there were two reasons \u2013 her soft hands and blazing speed. Those hands, however, let down Wilson during the team\u2019s four-day minicamp under the excruciatingly hot Texas sun. Upon arrival, Wilson was listed among the team\u2019s first-string wide receivers, but after a handful of drops, she fell in the pecking order.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had some issues dropping passes during our first practice,\u201d lamented Wilson. \u201cIt was hot, mid-90s each day \u2026 not ideal temperatures to what I am used to in Seattle. I don\u2019t typically have a problem dropping balls.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I really have no excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
A cousin of Wilson also passed away a day after minicamp began, which undoubtedly took away from the receiver\u2019s focus. The combination of it all \u2013 being well away from home on a demanding schedule and expected to perform with new teammates while learning about the death of a cousin \u2013 was challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a pretty shy person to begin with, and (after I heard about my cousin) I definitely kept to myself a little more,\u201d Wilson admitted. \u201cI think it effected how I interacted with people, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
After absorbing the news of her cousin, and getting out of the Texas heat, Wilson \u2013 and Team USA \u2013 completed the trip in fine fashion. Though the 2-point conversion was Wilson\u2019s lone catch of the tournament, she did get to try her hand \u2013 or, rather, legs \u2013 at a new position while in Stockholm, where she took a handful of snaps at running back. The results proved strong as Wilson gained 30 yards on five carries in the 66-0 shutout of Canada in the championship game.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty much all I do is catch the ball and run, so when they put me back there and tossed right or left, that was quite an experience,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n
Selections for the next Team USA won\u2019t take place for another three years, but Wilson already knows where her heart is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would definitely do it again,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was exhausting, but such a good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
An experience that went by in a blur, but finished with a flurry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Adrienne Wilson\u2019s opportunity of a lifetime proved to be a whirlwind two-and-a-half week excursion of ups and downs that the Kent transplant will never forget.
\nBy the time it was complete, Wilson was able to celebrate the Fourth of July like never before \u2013 in a different country, with a title in hand, and with plenty of new friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11051"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11051"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}