“When you lose a true friend, the hardest part isn’t the big moments. It’s actually the small ones,” said USWNT star Naomi Girma as she announced a mental health initiative after the passing of her teammate and dear friend Kaite Meyer. Two years later, for Girma, the hurt still remains, and the memories remain intact. 

The US team’s star player shared a special tribute to Meyer through an Instagram story three years after her passing. The overlay text of the story said, “3 years in heaven 🦋. Missing you every day 🤍” as the video showed Meyer in a cheerful mood in the company of trees with the wind in her hair, and the golden glow of the sun on her face.

Girma and Meyer were Stanford friends, and the former was a star in every sense of the word. In 2019, she took the collegiate scene by storm as she helped Stanford clinch the NCAA title against the University of North Carolina. She was also a true friend to Girma, having gone above and beyond to help the current Chelsea star recover from an ACL injury during the pandemic in 2020.

In 2023 after Meyers died by suicide, Girma wrote a tribute letter to her, detailing the bond they shared with each other. “The truest friend I ever had. The most unapologetic, positive, caring person in the world. The first person to be open and talk about her feelings. The first person you’d turn to when you needed to talk about yours, And the last person you’d think would take her own life,” wrote the defender, torn between reminiscence and mourning. And Naomi didn’t stop there; she engaged with family and friends to do something more special.

Naomi Girma’s attempt to help people like her late friend

Ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith, and Sofia Huerta from the USWNT joined hands to support the charitable movement Common Goal to address mental health issues in the world of soccer. After Katie’s demise, Girma decided firmly that she wanted to do her part to ensure that no one would ever lose a friend to mental health battles as she did.

The initiative saw FOX Sports pledge one percent of their broadcast coverage to “spotlighting the importance of mental health” during the tournament. Talking about the initiative, Naomi Girma said, “What I have learned through losing my best friend is that everyone struggles in their own way, even when it doesn’t seem they are.” 

Even after the World Cup ended, the USWNT star continued her association with Common Goal through Create the Space — a project that aims to use soccer as a tool for addressing mental health at the grassroots level while ensuring a safe environment for even those at the top of the game to share their own struggles with inner demons. issue. In fact, it saw great success when it had its first retreat in January last year. “We brought in 20 NWSL players and 25 youth coaches, and it was really inspiring to see how much everyone was willing to learn and wanted to make a difference in their own community,” said Girma. As successful as Girma is on the pitch, there’s no denying that her contributions to the sport off it would constitute a huge part of her soccer legacy.