Ever thought about why soccer is the most popular sport in the country? The excitement the game provides in itself. We want to see more of it. Some fans don’t mind watching soccer for the entire week, let alone the weekend. But have you put yourself into the shoes of a player? The stress. The pressure. And the anxiety that comes with it. Notably, Trinity Rodman got injured in her NWSL match against KC Current after trying to shield the ball. It’s caused quite a lot of confusion.

In the latest podcast of Sam Mewis’ ‘The Women’s Game,’ USWNT star Lynn Williams appeared to give her take on the scheduling conflict and the number of games the players play. Mewis also stated the ‘added burden’ for the players these days might be a cause for recent injury troubles. After entrepreneurs and celebrities started investing in NWSL, the amount of games the players play has doubled. Therefore, Williams stated of not having any breaks while playing soccer.

She mentioned it on the podcast, “So when I think of Trin, and Washington even, Croix, I get she was not injured on the playing field but she got injured out of an appearance. So, I don’t know the ins and outs of the injury. Who’s to say that it was like a fatigue moment? And I also think this year is interesting going into what we have so many more games and traveling. So much more.” 

Those games double with the expansion teams coming into the leagues in the future seasons. Williams continued, “And it’s just a lot. I was talking to another athlete in the sport and they couldn’t believe that we have such little time-off. Especially if you are doing club and country. I was like we get like six weeks, but you can’t actually have six weeks because you got to start training again.” 

Players like Virgil Van Dijk and the recently retired Raphael Varane also complained about the same fixture list issue in the men’s game. With Trinity Rodman’s injury a concern, player welfare should become the top priority. They are humans like us!

Soccer games cannot be stress-busters for players!

The level of competition these days remains the same. It is at an all-time high, and Williams stated her reasoning about this issue in the podcast with Sam Mewis. Williams clarified, “Yeah, I think it’s a lot of stress. I think if you play a lot of minutes in the World Tournament or you play zero minutes at a World Tournament. First and foremost, we have talked about this before, but you are putting all into the moment. Just from like a mental health standpoint, it’s a lot.”

She’s true in every aspect. Sometimes, we, as a fan, keep soccer players as superheroes, expected to run around for 90 minutes at full throttle. Well, it’s safe to say that’s not easy. The fitness levels maintained by some players remain unimaginable.

With the new CBA rules for the NWSL seasons in the future, the game load must be considered, or we lose the risk of having talented players like Trinity Rodman injured most of the time!