Crystal Dunn opened up in a profile for GQ Sports recently, sharing how difficult the transition is from midfield to the defensive position when she plays for the U.S. women’s national team.
“It’s been a massive burden on me to switch who I am given the team that I play for, and it’s something that I only go through,” she said. “I think it’s hard because I’m the only one who has to do it. I step into camp, and I feel like I lose a part of myself. I no longer get to be Crystal who scores goals, assists, is this attacking player.”
Dunn says playing defense is something that she’s “owned” and created in her own “most authentic way.”
“But I don’t love it. I love playing and I love competing, so that brings me up to the level that I need to be at, but it really is hard when I look around and I’m like, Well, no one else has to do this. I am the only person who does not stay put in one position and always has to change given what my coach thinks of me,” she said.
While Dunn says she tries to take it as a compliment of her abilities, it still hurts at times.
“If I believe I’m good at this one thing, why doesn’t my coach think I’m good at that one thing? Why would he or she move me?” she…
