Many people in America watched with excitement this summer as the United

States women’s soccer team won the World Cup.

However, most people here at UT don’t realize that a member of the Lady Vol

soccer team played in the World Cup.

Kendyl Michner, a senior midfielder from Germantown, Tenn. played for the

Mexican national team in the World Cup this summer.

Michner was eligible for this opportunity because her father was born in

Mexico City and is a Mexican citizen. She received dual citizenship this

past summer, which allowed her to play for Mexico.

Playing in the World Cup was an experience that Michner says she’ll never

forget.

“I think that the whole World Cup thing in general was just incredible,

especially while we competed in New York,” Michner said. “We followed the

U.S. national team and there were like eighty or ninety thousand people

there. The whole atmosphere was just amazing.”

Coming into her senior year here at UT, Michner’s goals and expectations

for the season were raised by this summer’s incredible activity.

“I think this just helped me because I competed all summer long with two

practices a day. I think that I came in a little bit more focused as to

what we need to do to get to the next level,” Michner said.

While the U.S. was fighting its way to the gold, Mexico struggled in its

matches. However, with a number of United States collegiate players in its

ranks, Mexico succeeded in gaining their first World Cup berth ever.

Michner believes that her performance will improve this year as a result of

her World Cup experience.

“I learned a lot like how to play quicker. The FIFA play at that level is a

lot higher because the ball just moves so much quicker,” Michner said. “I

learned to get the ball, receive, switch the ball and play as fast as

possible. That helped a lot.”

Very often, it’s the unknown athletes in college who have the most

incredible stories. At the next Lady Vol soccer game, remember that there’s

a World Cup player on the field for our team.