How Team USA is preparing for unpredictable weather in the Women's World Cup
With this year's Women's World Cup taking place in winter for Australia and New Zealand, team officials say they have to be ready for any kind of weather that comes their way.
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00:00 The 2023 Women's World Cup is underway in both Australia and New Zealand.
00:05 There are 32 soccer teams competing and the U.S. Women's National Team, they're trying
00:10 to become the first ever three-peat champion in World Cup history.
00:15 Jake Shuck is the equipment manager for the U.S. Women's National Team.
00:19 Thank you so much for joining us, Jake.
00:22 Thanks for having me.
00:23 It's actually different down under this time of year because it's wintertime in Australia
00:28 and New Zealand.
00:29 This is the first Women's World Cup to play during winter.
00:32 What are some of the weather challenges that the team has been facing there?
00:36 Yeah, so in winter down here it gets very windy and very rainy, so we've had to kind
00:41 of change what we normally bring for domestic matches.
00:45 So some of the gear that we've had to bring, players have two options of rain jackets,
00:49 we call a shell top, which is just like a pullover, and then a rain jacket that has
00:53 a hood.
00:55 Between the wind and the rain, it's been quite a challenge to make sure people are
01:00 warm, people are dry.
01:01 Are there any weather conditions that would actually cause officials to stop the play?
01:06 Haven't had a lot of lightning yet, haven't had lightning down here, so it's been good
01:11 and safe in that regard.
01:12 So mostly just wind and it's actually spurts of rain that you'll see down here.
01:16 We'll train and we'll get to the pitch and it's about sunny, 60 degrees, really,
01:22 really nice morning, and then the clouds will roll in and you'll get about a fit of rain
01:27 every five, ten, you know, for five, ten minutes and it'll be cold, it'll be miserable,
01:31 it'll be wet, but then it dries up usually after that.
01:34 So it's kind of unpredictable down here, but thankfully so far no lightning.
01:40 I'm curious, with the rain, does that change how the players react on the field or even
01:44 how the ball and some of the equipment goes on the field, the cleats, everything?
01:49 It definitely does.
01:50 So there's two types of cleats that our athletes will wear.
01:53 One is what we call a firm ground, which is just a plastic mold, and the other one is
01:57 a metal stud that'll screw into the bottom of the boot.
02:01 So when the pitch is a little bit soft, when it's wet, it gives them a little bit more
02:05 traction because it sticks their foot down a little bit deeper into the ground.
02:09 So we've encouraged our players to kind of wear that during matches and during trainings
02:13 just to feel comfortable so they have the traction so they're not slipping everywhere
02:16 when the weather conditions get pretty bad.
02:19 What's the most challenging thing that you've been faced with in preparing for this month-long
02:24 tournament?
02:27 I think there definitely is going to be a variation as you get up into Australia, potentially
02:31 northern Australia, Sydney, Melbourne.
02:34 The weather's going to be a little bit warmer, and obviously with our time we're playing
02:37 the majority of our games down in New Zealand.
02:40 So I think just being prepared for anything.
02:44 The unpredictability of what we're seeing down here.
02:47 No matter where we go, we have to be ready for, doesn't matter if it's sunny, doesn't
02:50 matter if it's windy, we have to be ready for pretty much everything.
02:54 So I think the unpredictability has been the most challenging piece.
02:57 Jake Shuck, thank you so much for joining us and good luck with the tournament.
03:02 Thank you very much.
03:03 Happy to be here.
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