Lynn Williams’ selflessness as a two-time Olympic alternate makes her a U.S. team role model

HARRISON, N.J. — It takes a pretty serious sacrifice to be willing to be an Olympic soccer alternate.

Sure, you get to travel to the Games, but that’s about it for the glamour. You just practice, unable to play in games unless there’s an injury. And if your team wins a medal, as the U.S. has done at every Olympics but one since women’s soccer started in 1996, you don’t get one.

If you play your club soccer in the NWSL, you could be back home playing in games instead. If you play your club soccer in Europe, you could be enjoying some vacation at a rare time of the year when that’s possible.

Given all that, what would you prefer?

For Lynn Williams, the decision is easy: an unequivocal yes. And when the 31-year-old Gotham FC forward said so to U.S. manager Emma Hayes, she became the first field player in U.S. history to be a two-time Olympic alternate.

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Even including goalkeepers, Williams is just the second two-time U.S. Olympic alternate ever. She and No. 3 netminder Jane Campbell both said yes in 2021 and this year.

It takes a special kind of character to be willing to do that, and Williams has shown it.

“I just think that any time you’re able to be around this team, it’s an honor and a privilege,” she said. “Any time I get to wear the crest, I just never take it for granted. … Just being able and willing to help the team, and wanting to be part of something bigger than yourself, I think, is why I’m always OK with being in any position on this team.”

It so happened that in 2021 and this year, Williams ended up on the full roster. Last time, it was because FIFA and the IOC made a pandemic-era exception and let the alternates rotate into 18-player game-day squads. The governing bodies went back on that this year (over widespread objections), but Williams got promoted when Catarina Macario had to withdraw with a knee injury.

That shouldn’t lessen the value of Williams’ commitments, because she didn’t know where she’d end up when she made them.

(Nor should a rule tweak that’s been made for this year. If a player gets injured in one game and the alternate comes in for the next, the injured player can come back for the game after that. It used to be the injured player was out for good.)

» READ MORE: USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher remains a quiet leader, even with all her big-game heroics

“Obviously, devastated for Cat,” she said. “But I think at the same time, two things can be true: devastated for her, and have empathy for that, and also very excited. I’ve been in this position before — I feel like almost my whole career has been in this position.”

Williams has reason to say that. She’s the NWSL’s all-time leading scorer, with 79 goals over 10 seasons, and four NWSL championships won across three clubs. She also has 64 U.S. national team caps, and 18 goals for her country.

But she didn’t get to a major tournament with the U.S. until 2021, and she didn’t make a major-tournament roster out of the gate until last year’s World Cup.

It was put to Williams over the weekend that this can’t have been an especially easy way to live.

“No, it’s not,” she said, easily breaking the tension of the question. “It’s definitely not. But I think that there’s something to being consistent about that, and knowing that role, and always being ready. You never know what’s going to happen, so just staying ready.”

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She continued, with plenty to say on the subject.

“You never know when your time is going to be, and you never know what your role is,” Williams said. “So if I’m able to embrace this role of — I am a veteran now, I’ve been through this a couple of times, and being able to use that veteran quality and experience and help the team in any way. But also, being called upon and knowing that they believe in me, that if I’m called upon, I will be ready — I think that there’s something to say for that.”

There is, as Williams said, “a message in that for people who aren’t always the one that’s going to be the superstar.” And it can make her even more of a role model for the U.S. team’s new generation.

“I think everybody here understands we all have our own individual goals, and we have our own individual wants, but at the end of the day, soccer is a team sport,” Williams said. “Wanting to be in this team in any capacity is a win in itself. You want to be a part of this, you want to be able to push the team, you want to take your special attributes and qualities and apply them on to the team.”

Before Williams played 15 minutes as a substitute in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Mexico, Hayes said she had a long conversation with Williams on Thursday. It went so well that it delayed one of Hayes’ scheduled staff meetings.

» READ MORE: Emma Hayes aims to answer an eternal USWNT question: Slow down more or shoot first?

There was plenty of lightness in the chat — it included Williams’ explaining the differences in how players of various ages do heart-shaped gestures — but there was also plenty of seriousness.

“I’m a straight-up person and she’s a straight-up person,” Hayes said. “So it works really well, and we’ve been really honest from the get-go. She’s been a delight to be around. … She’s been here before, and I think because she’s been here before, she’s calm, and can handle whatever’s there.”

Hayes said she knows Williams “will always remind me her job is to make my life difficult,” and Williams proved it in relaying her view of the chat: “I’m a stubborn person, so just not taking no for an answer.”

That might be a high bar to clear, since Hayes has a 6-year-old son and said, “There’s no way she can make it more difficult than him sometimes.”

But a striker who has long been as good at defensive pressing as she is scoring has the tools to be a pain in anyone’s backside.

“I look forward to the challenge,” Hayes said. “But I also have challenged her to use that experience to make sure she raises the bar. And I know we’re both excited to work together.”

Consider the challenge accepted.

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Times listed are Philadelphia time. All of NBC’s video streaming of the Olympics is available free with pay-TV provider authentication at NBCOlympics.com, or via subscription on Peacock.

Tuesday, July 16: Warmup game vs. Costa Rica at Washington (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, Peacock)

Thursday, July 25: Group stage vs. Zambia at Nice, France (3 p.m., USA Network, Universo, Peacock)

Sunday, July 28: Group stage vs. Germany at Marseille, France (3 p.m., USA Network, Telemundo 62, Peacock)

Wednesday, July 31: Group stage vs. Australia at Marseille (1 p.m., E!, Universo, Peacock)

Saturday, Aug. 3: Quarterfinal at Paris if group winner (9 a.m., E!, Telemundo 62, Peacock); Marseille if runner-up (1 p.m., Telemundo 62, Peacock); or Lyon (11 a.m., E!, Universo, Peacock) or Nantes (3 p.m., English TBD, Universo, Peacock) if a third-place qualifier

Tuesday, Aug. 6: Semifinal at Lyon if group winner or runner-up (E!, Universo, Peacock); or Marseille if a third-place qualifier (3 p.m., English TBD, Universo, Peacock)

Friday, Aug. 9: Bronze medal game at Lyon (9 a.m., USA Network, Telemundo 62, Peacock)

Saturday, Aug. 10: Gold medal game at Paris (11 a.m., USA Network, Telemundo 62, Peacock)