With the Chicago Red Stars, Leilanni Nesbeth looks to grow as a player and as a person

When we first get in contact with Leilanni Nesbeth for this interview, she hadn’t made her debut with the Chicago Red Stars yet. Despite not featuring for the first time in the National Women’s Soccer League, Nesbeth knows that she wants to be fully ready before she steps onto the pitch for the first time in a Red Stars jersey.

“I want to get back to full health, make sure I’m going into games without pushing through things,” she explains. “I don’t think I’ve been fully healthy in a pretty long time so that’s definitely a goal of mine and hopefully I can get there sooner rather than later.”

Until then, Leilanni Nesbeth is settling into Chicago with her new puppy Matcha, a shih-poo, while also learning more about her new city and the culinary varieties that are available to her now. “I never really thought that I would like city life like this but I really, really dig it. I wish there was more trees [for the puppy] but we’re working on it. The parking is awful,” she says with a smile “but other than that, Chicago’s a vibe for real.”

Before making her way to Chicago, the 22-year old Bermuda native first started out her soccer career in England. Her plan was always to be a professional player and she never looked to do anything else. The NWSL wasn’t an option for her until she had finished two seasons at Florida State University because she wasn’t sure if she had the type of statistics most teams would look at in a potential draft choice. After her senior and fifth year at Florida State, Nesbeth felt that she had gotten the confidence and the feedback to play at the highest level no matter where she ended up playing.

Being in England for four years also helped build her self-belief, and her confidence in her own ability.

“I was playing for the reserves at Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. for a little while before getting my first call up for the first team at 16. That kinda environment was different, it wasn’t just club soccer at that point, it was moreso you actually show up to an academy and you have set practices, you have a team bus, games and you’re still in the facility with all the professional athletes.” she explains. “So it was nice to definitely get into that rhythm and I definitely feel like I was exposed to the professional world of soccer at a pretty young age. I think that definitely helped . I was also playing for my schools with the boys team so that physicality was able to transfer to my game and that helped me tremendously.”

Her time at Brighton also helped her gain her own independence, “I was kinda feen for myself,” she says with a smile, and also help her begin to understand how to navigate life as a person while also being a professional player. Once she then joined then Florida State at 17-years old and then eventually ended up in Chicago, she had already placed the stepping stones needed to prepare herself on becoming a professional player.

Moving from Bermuda, an island with a population of around 65,000 people, to a country like England is never easy for any family but in particular, a family that has a young daughter who wants to play professional sports. Nesbeth knew that in order to be a professional athlete, she needed to move away from Bermuda and Bede’s Senior School in East Sussex, England gave her the opportunity to do so.

“I did leave at a young age and the school that I went to, a lot of it was the financial support that they were going to give me and my family, which was huge. I didn’t want my grandmother to be paying some crazy, crazy school fees.” she states “So that was big, and it also allowed me to play cricket which was another passion of mine growing up.”

This little nugget of information leads us into discussing cricket, a sport both of us a very familiar with and a sport that had soccer not worked out for her, Nesbeth would happily have pursued. “I was a seam bowler, I was a fast bowler and I batted around three or four. I was outfield as well because I like to make some outrageous catches. So I was all of that.”

“I was playing cricket and football. The school that I went to allowed me to juggle both which was massive for me. I always knew I wanted to take the route of football, I just didn’t know when I wanted to make that drastic change because I was so so young so I was able to do both for a little while.”

The discussions with her family on her decision to move to England weren’t all that difficult according to Nesbeth. Her family always wanted her to be as successful and as happy as possible. The conversation always centered around what would put her in the best position to play professionally in her near future and she feels that as a family, they made the right choice.

“They knew that they just didn’t want to contain my talent just in this small little island [Bermuda] so my grandmother [Ann Williams], my grandparents have been my biggest support system ever since I was a kid so they definitely needed no convincing. They were the ones who kinda pushed me,” she states. “My grandma still wants to go back and find a way to go back to Eastbourne in her future. They absolutely loved it, we still keep in contact with all the staff members at the school.”

Once she entered the academy system with Brighton, Nesbeth looked to pursue her future in the sport as a midfielder but her first team call up actually came with the opportunity to play right back. Nesbeth feels that the call up to that position came due to her bigger stature at the time, which the coaching staff felt would help her defend, while her passing ability as a midfielder would help the team in attack. In the academy though, she mainly played as a No. 10, and that was how she ended up being recruited to Florida State.

“I came into the program as an attacking midfielder, predominantly more focused to be a 10 than an eight or a six. Now coming to the [Chicago] Red Stars, I was drafted as a six where I was playing in my more recent years in college but now gravitating towards unlocking that attacking side again which has been fun.” she says.

The Chicago Red Stars have asked her to play more as an attacking midfielder, and while that has been a challenging prospect for her now, she’s enjoyed re-learning to attack, to find penetrating runs and still facilitate on that side of the ball.

“I’ll always have that six mentality but now I’m adding that creativity that you need to be a playmaker higher up the field. The Red Stars are for sure seeing that side of me and given me the freedom to unlock both sides, both on the defensive end as a six and now being able to see how I can get into goalscoring opportunities.”

Before being drafted by the Chicago Red Stars, the day of the draft didn’t start off as smoothly as Leilanni Nesbeth would’ve wanted. “It was a lot!” she states right off the bat.

“Long story short, my outfit that I had planned just didn’t work out so I had to take an Uber to a hemming store to get my pants hemmed an hour before I had to go over to the draft. By the time I came back to the room, oh my God, my room was a mess, it was hectic. So that was one side of it,” she recalls with amusement. “I didn’t really have time to dwell on it because I was just trying to figure out another outfit otherwise I would’ve come in my Florida State kit so that wouldn’t have been too good!”

Nesbeth hadn’t planned on attending the draft, which may have led to the ‘rushed’ feeling she had when it came to the day itself. She decided roughly three days before the draft that should would attend which meant that she and her family had to plan a lot of things in a short amount of time, but she doesn’t regret making that choice at all. “It was definitely cool, definitely nice to be in that environment, the amount of effort and time they put into making that day special for all of the draftees was really cool to see and I’m so, so glad that I took the opportunity to go up and there and attend it in person.”

With any draft process, there will be multiple calls with family, friends, agents, coaches, teams, you name it. It can be overwhelming for any young player, in any of the sports in North America, and it wasn’t any different for Nesbeth. In fact, constantly being on her phone made her even more leery about it and social media as a whole.

“I hate my phone now. I deleted all of my social media, I only talk to my grandmother.” she states with a laugh. “Even before that [draft day], I was like ‘I hate my phone’. I’ve never had to be on my phone that much and answer so many text messages form agents, coaches, whatever the case may be, so much in my life to the point that I absolutely hate my phone.”

Despite all of that, despite the overwhelming feeling of having so many conversations with so many people constantly, knowing that so many teams were interested in her made Nesbeth realise that she could absolutely play at a professional and especially in the NWSL.

Once she dealt with the calls, and the outfit faux pas, Nesbeth settled in more and actually enjoyed the overall experience at the draft. She says she went from the panic of having to fix her outfit to being like a kid in a candy store because all she could think was “Oh my gosh, I’m about to be a professional soccer player!” Even with more conversations with her agents throughout the entire draft, she still felt excited at the prospect that she was about to live out her dreams and at any moment, those dreams would become a reality. “It was definitely scarier while you’re sitting there next to the stage, and you’re so nervous but I don’t think it could’ve played out any better and I’m super, super grateful that I ended up here [in Chicago].”

After the pick was made by the Red Stars, after all of the media that usually goes with being in attendance at the draft and thus, being selected by a team, returning to her hotel room was another moment where the Bermuda native took a moment to reflect. “I said, I should’ve cleaned my room before I left for the draft so I came into a “hurricane” of a room,” she jokes. “So I couldn’t even walk [around]. I just laid in bed for a little bit, called my grandmother and she was super, super excited.”

You can tell throughout the interview that the connection she has with her grandmother especially is special as her voice and demeanor instantly lightens when she refers to her grandmother so it’s not a surprise that once she was done at the draft location, her first call was to her grandmother.

“I didn’t look at my phone or any text messages, answer those or get back to any of those calls until like a week later because I just wanted to live in the moment, not get my head too fixated on that.”

That very same evening, her agency TMJ, took all of the players signed to them out for dinner as a way to celebrate them, which Nesbeth appreciated. It gave her another chance to just breathe the moment in alongside other players in the exact same position as her, and also celebrate her achievements up until that point. We tend to forget how quickly this moment passes for the players who get drafted and with everything that goes into the day, giving the players a moment to take it all in cannot be overstated, something that Nesbeth agreed with. “It was good vibes all around. It was a night I won’t forget.”

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

We then shift the interview into how she’s adapting to Chicago’s playing system now, as she’s been moved further up the field by Lorne Donaldson. She describes herself as someone who understands the game well (“I think my IQ for the game is pretty high,” she jokes at this moment), and that’s why she was able to not only switch to the six role with Florida State, but then also switch back to a No. 10 with Chicago.

“I’m able to read plays well just before the happen, I’m able to step in and intercept balls, and also kinda see how the wingers are positioning themselves to get behind backlines. I understand the game really well which made it easy to transition into these different roles within the midfield, so I think I would just describe my game as pretty fluent, adaptable, aggressive, creative and my technique is up there if I had to be a little confident in myself,” she finishes with a laugh.

Her ability to adapt so well, and then combine the physical attributes that are needed to play as a six (“You have to be a dawg!” she exclaims) have helped her not only fit in with what Chicago wants to do, but also with how quickly the game is played in the NWSL. The league tends to be transitional so if you’re asked to be a creative player, you also have to know how and when to defend, because sometimes games in the NWSL will require you to do the dirty work too, so to speak.

Nesbeth always felt comfortable doing the defensive work required but now, with the Red Stars, she needed a mental shift. It was no longer about going into a game looking to win second balls, or track runners, or anything like that; it was now about creating chances, linking up play further up the field, scoring goals and if possible, keeping the ball higher up the field.

“I do want to be the person who links up play higher up the field, I want to be able to keep the ball on top of their 18 and I wanna get into goal scoring opportunities and if I can’t score a goal, I wanna set up someone else.” she says. “So that shift, finding that balance is going to be huge for me because I wanna make sure I’m still doing that dirty work, I want to put in the tackles, I want to retain the ball but I also want to be able to fill in the gaps. If the ball gets played up, can I bust my tail to get there? Can I be the one to get the tap in? Can I be the one to get on the end of this cross? Those little nuances are going to be different and it’s going to be important that I balance out the two, so I can contribute on both the defensive and attacking end.”

Her biggest adjustment in all of this has been becoming more disciplined. Nesbeth feels that in England and in college, she wasn’t always the most disciplined player and she tended to get away with it but in the NWSL, you can’t do that and succeed. “I didn’t always get the full 8 hours and some change [of sleep] because if I felt good, I just felt good.” she says with a knowing smile.

Due to the nature of the season in the NWSL, lack of sleep or not taking care of your body will affect how you play. In college, it’s a shorter season, roughly three or four months but the NWSL is eight to nine months, and as most rookies are quickly learning, if you don’t do everything required to take care of your body, it’ll catch up to you faster than you can anticipate.

“Your body has to be your temple. You have to get your sleep, you have to eat properly, you have to hydrate well, you have to do all of these things to take care of yourself because the season is so long. The trainings, the intensity is so high and the volume is much, much bigger than what I’ve been exposed to so that has probably been the biggest adjustment that I’ve made.” she says. “I leave practice and I’m like ‘dude, I’m tired, I’m going straight to sleep’ so it’s just me being more disciplined.”

“Even when it comes to the training room, like I absolutely hate the training room, I will do anything to leave the training room,” she explains, smiling throughout her answer. “I’m not the type to be in there to do treatment, I’d rather just thug it out and if I’m hurting, I’m hurting and I can’t do that here. I cannot do that. I have to take the time to do the small things after training to put myself in a good position because I gotta last, you know? I ain’t gotta last three months where I can push through things, where I can get away with stuff, I have to last dang near eight-nine months. That has definitely been the biggest adjustment. Just me making sure I’m disciplined in all the small areas. I had some amazing people in college who always reminded me of that and now I’m just putting that into practice.”

As we wind down with the interview, the question of season goals is posed to Leilanni Nesbeth and she quickly points out that she isn’t interested in personal accolades. “I don't really care to be ‘Rookie of this or whatever the case may be’. I don’t really care about scoring X amount of goals or breaking any records, I just wanna be able to contribute to this team. This team has done a complete 360 from what I’ve heard, from last year. From the investment, to the coaching staff, to the attitude, to the desire, to the ambition, all of it. I think the team is in a really good space and it’s only going to trend upwards.”

“I just want to be a part of something special. I want to be a part of the transition and hopefully get to a championship caliber team with the Chicago Red Stars, and I just want to contribute. I'm definitely motivated to being out on the pitch at some point and in the meantime I just want to continue to learn, continue to grow as a player and see how that’s going to translate to me growing as person because that’s much more important. Overall, I just want to contribute, be the best teammate that I can be, be the best player that I can be and I know I can definitely help this team both on and off the field.”

Nesbeth ends the interview hoping that she can bring all of that to fruition soon as she had not made her debut for the Chicago Red Stars when we talked. She made her debut the following week, scoring a goal as well, despite Chicago losing that game to the Washington Spirit. Since then, she has also made a second appearance, this time starting for the Red Stars in their recent win against Bay FC. Whatever work she put in since we spoke has clearly paid off and it looks like the coaching staff in Chicago like what they see of Nesbeth too. With still a long way to go in the season, don’t be surprised to see her making as big an impact as a lot of the other rookies in this league have done. She has the football IQ and the talent to become a staple in the NWSL for years to come.

Check out our other interviews with the rookies in the NWSL this year:

Madison Curry - Angel City FC

Savy King - Bay FC

Maycee Bell - NJ/NY Gotham FC

Reilyn Turner - Racing Louisville

Sam Meza - Seattle Reign FC

Ally Sentnor - Utah Royals FC

Croix Bethune - Washington Spirit