Inside the life of the youngest NWSL player

“I’m still booming to get better, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally,” she said. “And I would just say that it is a satisfaction to create a goal and achieve it. And work very hard and see all this hard work really paying.”

Mak is the youngest of a movement for growing young people in the NWSL, triggered by an Olivia Moultrie, then 19 years old.

Moultrie, a midfielder from Portland Thorns, won an antitrust trial against the NWSL which she filed in 2021 to repeal the age requirement of the League for her players. In 2022, the League unveiled a policy that would allow teams to sign some players under the age of 18 with restrictions.

It is not unknown for male teams to present adolescent talents – Freddy Adu made his debut for DC United in 2004 at only 14 years old, the youngest person to make his debut for any professional professional sport at the time. And 20 years later, Cavan Sullivan made his own beginnings at MLS for the Philadelphia Union at 14 years old.

Mak’s father noted that the decision to let their own teenager making his professional debut was not the one that family members took lightly. She spent months training with several NWSL teams, in addition to her time spent working with Gotham, before signing an agreement.

“She continued to have growth and success in this environment,” said Whitham. “So Mak wanted it, and we have committed to supporting his dreams.”

Gotham’s managing director, Yael Averbuch West, and head coach Juan Carlos Amorós have teamed up with the family to “make sure they continue to grow not only in her game, but as a person,” said Whitham.

“We have a very strong relationship with Gotham and we have meetings on a defined rate concerning all areas of its development in Gotham,” he added.

Some of the guarantees mandated by the league for young players include anti-trame protections until they are 18 years old, a separate changing area of ​​adults, regular drug tests and requirements that the team helps pay for housing and schooling costs.

Mak says that she is grateful to have a family who would move across the country to help him realize her dream. She stressed that her father’s sports career was similar because he joined the 1998 American team ski team when he was still in high school.

“He understands the sacrifices and he understands the challenges that accompany him,” said Mak. “So I’m really grateful to have it. And I also have my mother, she helps me with a lot, as with schooling … I can go to her and have very good conversations.”