United States forward Jaedyn Shaw has said she has struggled to deal with expectations since joining North Carolina Courage in January.
Shaw left San Diego Wave after a successful three-year stint during which she won the NWSL Shield and NWSL Challenge Cup, and was named to the NWSL Best XI in 2023.
However, she has had a slow start to life in North Carolina and is yet to score in her three starts for the club. The Courage are winless this season and have scored only twice in three games.
“I think, at least, recently I’ve struggled a little bit with just the expectation of being traded into a new environment,” she said in an interview with Futbol W.
“And now it’s an environment where it suits you and you suit it and you’re going to be impactful and it’s going to be great and all this stuff. And when it’s not, it’s just like ‘whoa, what happened?’
“And I think for me, I think it’s allowed me to kind of take a step back and be like ‘okay well it’s good people believe in you,’ that’s a way to take it. And then also just nothing has really changed … I mean, you’ve changed teams, but it’s also like you are still allowed to make mistakes and you’re still allowed to grow and be the same person that you were before. It’s not a complete identity change.
“So I think that’s kind of recently what I’ve been noticing about myself and the way that I’ve kind of been viewing the last however many three games and just in preseason and things like that with my performance. And I think that overcoming that, I’m still kind of working through it, but I think for me, just grounding myself and being like ‘your team believes in you and you’re in an environment where you’re allowed to make mistakes.’
“So just letting those expectations go. And if you can’t let it go, then turn it into something positive.”
Despite her recent form, Shaw has been called up by Emma Hayes for the USWNT’s upcoming friendlies against Brazil. The last time these two sides met was in the 2024 Olympics final — which United States won 1-0 to clinch gold — and Shaw believes the clash comes at an opportune time. USWNT’s last outing was a loss to Japan in the SheBelieves Cup final in February.
“Obviously it’s going to be a big game. They’re [Brazil] a great opponent and obviously coming off the Olympics … playing them in the finals. So I think it’ll be really fun and a good test for us and our journey as a team and continuing to just push forward and grow,” she said.
“I think this is a good timing for us coming off of last camp to have these games and continuing to push, which I think Emma is focusing on a lot, just continuing to push us as a team and putting us in uncomfortable positions.”
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