Column: USWNT newcomer Savannah DeMelo's journey will come full circle at World Cup
, who played with DeMelo on local kids’ teams and the U.S. under-20 team, acknowledged that while DeMelo’s path was unusual, it led her where she belongs.
DeMelo was a gymnast until she was 8 and didn’t take soccer seriously until she was 9, a relatively late start. Her father, Robert, played the sport in his native Portugal, but he and her mother, Kim, were smart enough to let the oldest of their three daughters come to soccer herself rather than forcing her into it.
She played volleyball and basketball for fun. “I wasn’t that great,” she said. She gravitated to soccer for the team aspects, for the love she developed while watching games with her father and admiring Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. “He’s like a god at our house,” she said. DeMelo feared her career might have ended in 2019 when she tore her Achilles tendon, but she got through rehabilitation and finished her college career with appearances in 75 games and four all-conference honors. “I think it just kept me super hungry to come back and not just come back the player I was, but even better,” she said.
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