Greg Baker looks back on the season when he knew Trinity Rodman was a special footballer.
A former coach of the Southern California Blues, a powerful women’s soccer club, Baker first met Rodman as a promising nine-year-old girl with a famous surname.
But by the time NBA superstar Dennis Rodman’s daughter turned 16, she was clearly ahead of her peers in practice.
“I could see that her teammates were looking at her differently. [they] I could see her reaching another level,” Baker told the Post.
On Friday, Baker will watch Rodman, now 21, make her World Cup debut for the USA Women’s National Team in New Zealand.
They will play Vietnam.
Rodman is one of the youngest on the team, but her creative, aggressive playstyle and unwavering personality have been tempered by personal and on-field adversity. In 2019, when her team was playing the Virginia team in the national championship game, her opposing team’s parents started yelling at her.
“There was a lot of talk on the sidelines and people were starting to endorse Torin because of her last name,” Baker said. “The best way to explain it was a verbal jab that she was overrated.”
Baker said it got under Rodman’s mother Michelle Moyer’s skin and ignited something on the star’s front.
“It was on at that point. Torin would start the show by electrifying the players. She looked like a next-level athlete. When she’s full of motivation, mind you,” Baker said, adding, “Actually, it’s scary.”
That’s a warning to the top women’s soccer players on the planet as Rodman steps onto the international stage.
The US is looking for Three Pete, synonymous with Rodman’s name. The women are defending their World Cup wins in France 2019 and Canada 2015.
But the 5-foot-10-tall rising star has been open about her on-and-off relationship with her father and is carving out a path of her own.
Rodman is called “”Sports Illustrated “Generational Talent”. She has endorsements from Adidas, Oakley and Bose and has signed a record deal with the National Women’s Soccer League. Playful and charming Tiktok presence.
“Most of the younger fans don’t know who Dennis is.
Born in Newport Beach, Rodman is the youngest of the former hoop star’s three children. Her mother married the flamboyant NBA legend in May 2003, and although the relationship was short-lived, they had two children together, including Rodman’s older brother, DJ, who recently transferred to the University of Southern California to play hoops (Moyer has an older daughter from another relationship).
Dennis was a sporadic presence. “I think I’ve only seen him three times in ten years,” Baker said.
That theme extended to his financial contributions as well. As a result, the family had a hard time, and at one point Ms. Moyer and her children were sharing a room at the Comfort Inn.
“She was kind of a fun kid who was in a crazy living situation and yet made the most of it on the football field. And she loved football,” Baker said.
Rodman was financially tight, but was well supported by his mother, brother and the club, which was a scholarship player. Baker said the safety net and sports “lightened the load”.
Rodman echoed this sentiment.
“When I was a kid, people didn’t really know what my family and I were going through.” Rodman told Redbull.com.. “They didn’t know what we had and what we didn’t have.
“But when I was on the field, everything was equal, we weren’t talking about our financial situation, our living situation, our family. It was just football, the ball, the field and me. On the field, I was always happy. And I still feel the same way.”
He was selected second overall by the Washington Spirit in the 2021 NWSL Draft and was named the league’s Rookie of the Year. A year later, she signed a four-year deal worth more than $1.1 million with the DC team, making her the highest-paid player in the league.
In 2021, her father surprised his daughter with a playoff game.she called it “emotional” in an Instagram post.
“Yes, Dennis Rodman came to the NWSL game, but so did my dad. After years of surprising me with the big games in my career, I was shocked, overwhelmed, happy, sad, everything was a shock. My dad has never played a big role in my life and most people don’t know it. We disagree on many things. I would go months or years without his presence or contact.” she wrote, adding:
“Staying in the spotlight was hard for him and for me. Our relationship isn’t the best, but at the end of the day, he’s human and I’m human too… He’s my father and I’m his little girl who will never change. I’m improving as I hope he is and I look forward to each day.”
When it was announced in June that she would be joining a roster of 23 women, USWNT publishes video Celebrities, athletes and the Biden family will appear to announce the team.
Rodman’s name was called by his father’s nemesis, Shaquille O’Neal, who said, “Trinity Rodman, welcome to your first World Cup. Take the plunge and take back the win. Go to America, congratulations Trinity.”
Rodman went ecstatic told the LA Timesit was a “moment that came full circle” and “I want to continue to have that connection with him.”
“I put an end to it all,” he said, although he had not heard from his father. I know he’s proud of me. he really thinks so. He has things to deal with on his own, but at the end of the day, he told me he knew I was here and that’s all I needed. ”
But she studied his game. She and her brother DJ watched tapes of the prolific rebounder and described his approach as “hunting.”
“It’s hunting in front of goal. It’s like hunting when you lose the ball,” she said at a press conference, comparing it to her own game. She “comes back and goes back to be the first person to ever get a foot, head, knee or shin from something that popped out.”
Off the field, Rodman is artistic and likes to draw. She is interested in fashion. And while Baker is open and generous with her fans, “she’s actually shy,” Baker said. people may not know it. ”
But he has seen Rodman grow immeasurably as a player and as a person. She bought a house and a car. “She’s been interviewed by everyone, but Torin isn’t after her fame,” he said. “She wants to be a great soccer player.”
