SHERIDAN Kailen

General
IMPROVING THROUGH ADVERSITY
Her club, Sky Blue FC, finished the 2018 NWSL season with the league's worst record, winning just one match. She said the year was important in her development despite the club's struggles, as she felt she had a successful campaign in which she made 108 saves during the season. "I think that was the year I got to face so many things. Maybe from the outside it looks like a really rough year for the team, and for me personally, coming in last and not winning. It doesn't look like a typical year where you say, 'Oh, I was successful'. But I definitely came out of that year thinking that I grew as a goalkeeper and became a better player, just because I got to see so much, face so much, and grow a bigger understanding of the game." (tsn.ca, 15 May 2020)

USING HER VOICE
In 2018 she spoke out against the conditions she and her Sky Blue FC teammates had to deal with at their former training ground, such as not having shower facilities. She addressed the issues with the club's owners and local politicians and a year later, the team moved their training base to share with Major League Soccer team the New York Red Bulls. "[The conditions] were not okay, it wasn't the standard, and it was okay not to be okay with it, even though I felt that maybe I had to be. It just really taught me that in order to make a difference, we did have to speak up. We couldn't just be quiet. It was maybe a risk that we would have to take, but we had to trust that this risk was worth it, and that we deserved more than we were being given." (tsn.ca, 15 May 2020)

COACHING
She helps to develop the next generation of goalkeepers by working in youth coaching at The Keeper Institute in New Jersey, United States of America. "I do love coaching. I think that's one of the amazing gifts you can give back when you're at such a high level, because you have the knowledge and the ability. Being able to work with kids and give back is a really good thing for me to be able to do, and I feel really passionate about it." (tsn.ca, 15 May 2020)

UNUSUAL PHOBIA
She suffers from koumpounophobia, a fear of buttons. "[When] I was pretty young, I just didn't want to get put in buttoned clothes. My parents were like, 'What is wrong with this kid?' I don't know what it is. I still just don't like them. I don't want to touch them. I don't want them near me. Nobody knows what happened with the buttons. It's just one of those things." (tsn.ca, 15 May 2020)

She made 108 saves in the 2018 NWSL season, which equalled the all-time NWSL record for most saves in a season set by the Washington Spirit's Aubrey Bledsoe that same year. (skybluefc.com, 15 Sep 2018)