LAVELLE Rose

General
MOVE TO ENGLAND
In August 2020 she signed for US National Women's Soccer League [NWSL] side OL Reign, but immediately agreed a deal to join English Women's Super League [WSL] club Manchester City. As part of the deal, OL Reign retained her playing rights in the US National Women's Soccer League. "The [Women's Super League] is a great league that keeps getting better every year. It is attracting a lot of really great players. Manchester City is obviously a great club in the men's and the women's side. They have a lot of resources. I don't know much about the city yet but I know that the football culture is amazing so all of that was something I wanted to be a part of." (bbc.co.uk, 18 Aug 2020)

HAMSTRING TROUBLES
She tore her hamstring three times between 2017 and 2018, and says she found returning to the sport mentally challenging following her injury troubles. "I thought once I was back playing the hard part was over, but honestly that was the hardest part for me, mentally. I had to re-teach myself to do things that had come so naturally to me before that point, and I had never felt so low, confidence-wise, in my career. I've always been pretty confident, and everything flowed and was so natural for me. But now I was back, and nothing felt natural. I felt so out of my element." (onwisconsin.uwalumni.com, 01 Sep 2019)

STAR-STRUCK
She admits to feeling star-struck when she met her national teammates for the first time following her call-up to the US women's senior team in 2015. "I think that first 'wow' moment I had was a team meal. It was so weird because all of a sudden, I was in a room with all the people I had grown up watching and aspired to be like and who had inspired me so much." (onwisconsin.uwalumni.com, 01 Sep 2019)

THOUGHTS OF QUITTING
She considered giving up on football before being cut from the US Olympic Development programme in 2013, which she says served as motivation for her to continue in the sport. "I had wanted to quit and my mom was like, 'You have to finish the year'. Then I got cut and she was like, 'Alright you can quit'. I was like, 'NO!' I think I learn a lot more from the lows in my life than the highs and I feel like that's one of the moments I learned a lot about myself." (nbcsports.com, 20 Aug 2019)

INSPIRATIONAL COACH
She credits the influence of her former coach Neil Bradford, who passed away in 2016. Bradford coached her between the ages of eight and 18 at her local football academy in Cincinnati, OH, United States of America, and also tried to convince her to represent England at international level. "Neil and his dad bought me a whole England kit. I have a jersey, warm-up jacket, tracksuit, pants, I have it all. I was always like, 'I don't know how they think I'm going to play for England, I have no ties there'. But it was funny and he was always someone who saw something in me. I always hoped he [Bradford] was going to be alive for that moment [first international cap]. It was always something he believed I could do, so it did seem fitting that my first cap was against England and I ended up sending [my match shirt] to his parents in the UK. They loved it, we still talk. They raised a really good man." (telegraph.co.uk, 05 Nov 2019)