Fleming key to Canada’s chances
Jessie Fleming turned pro this year (and finished her degree at the same time). Is a medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games next?
Jessie Fleming’s next stop in her busy career? Tokyo, Japan, where she’s hoping to help Team Canada medal for an unprecedented third Olympic Games in a row. (Photo: Canada Soccer).
Jessie Fleming feels very fortunate.
It’s something she refers to a lot. The opportunities and coaching she received growing up. The chance to join the national program at a young age. The unique opportunity, this past year, to juggle her studies at UCLA while playing for Chelsea FC. And the chance to play for Team Canada at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, alongside veteran teammates and friends – all of whom are focused on reaching the podium.
She’s earned every opportunity, of course. The scholarship, the degree in Materials Engineering, the pro contract, and her standing as one of this country’s top midfielders. But Jessie Fleming is grounded. And she’s team-first.
Beginning Wednesday, the midfielder is simply looking to do her part to help Canada change that bronze medal they won in 2016 to a different colour this time around.
“There’s something really special about getting to represent Canada at a major tournament like the Olympics,” Fleming said earlier this month before the team departed for Japan. “There’s definitely that added element of the passion that comes from playing for your country.”
She was there in 2016, a young phenom at just 18 years of age. The Canadians lost narrowly in the semis to Germany before claiming their second straight bronze medal – a first in team history. It was a young team in 2016. They’ve played a lot together since, and Fleming thinks they’re capable of big things in Tokyo.
“I think we’re really hungry to get to a final and win the tournament,” the midfielder said. “I think any of us who played in 2016 remembers how close we were. We have a lot of returning players, and we’ve built those on-field partnerships and connections. We’re a tight-knit group.”
In fact, 12 veterans from the Rio Games have returned for Tokyo, led by longtime team captain and star Christine Sinclair. Fleming is joined by two other returning midfielders on the 18-woman (and four alternate) squad. Another Londoner, Shelina Zadorsky, a centre back, has also returned from the 2016 team.
The Canadian women gathered in Irvine, California in late June for training camp. International competitions are unique in that players don’t have as much time together as they do with their pro clubs or college teams over lengthy seasons.
Fleming, 23, made her senior team debut at just 15 years of age. The Tokyo Games are her second Olympics. At 18, she was part of the bronze medal-winning 2016 team in Rio. (Photo: Canada Soccer).
“There’s definitely a difference in terms of how much exposure you have,” Fleming said. “You have less time to train together. But that’s why, I think, having a lot of returning players from previous tournaments will help us, because we’ve played together over five, six years.”
Even for new players though, Fleming said, it didn’t take long for the players to gel.
“We’re all bonded together by the fact that we’re Canadians and we’re playing for our country,” she said. “There’s definitely that added element. I think training camp was really good.”
With the band back together, Team Canada, No. 8 in current FIFA world rankings, departed for Japan July 8 and resumed training, including scrimmages and exhibition matches – perhaps the most notable, a 3-3 draw on July 14, in Kamogawa, Japan, against No. 4 Netherlands, runners-up to the U.S. at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
If it all sounds like a whirlwind, it’s because it is. The life of a world-class soccer player is busy, to say the least. It’s full of travel, it’s packed with practices and games, and it requires a great deal of scheduling and time management to meet the demands of the game. If anyone’s used to it, though, it’s Jessie Fleming …
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There were occasions this past year, as her Chelsea FC teammates played cards, watched Netflix or slept, that Fleming had her books open, doing schoolwork on bus rides home from matches.
The 23-year-old was playing her first year in the FA Women’s Super League, the highest level of women’s football in England, and she juggled that with completing her university degree at UCLA – in Materials Engineering (with a minor in Environmental Science).
“It was definitely challenging at times, traveling on the road with Chelsea and trying to manage schoolwork at the same time,” said Fleming, who signed with the team last August and played – and studied, virtually due to COVID-19 – with the club through late May. “But I think I was really fortunate to have the opportunity to juggle both. I’m thankful I was able to get that first pro year under my belt and also finish up my degree.”
Fortunate. Thankful.
Juggling both wasn’t originally the plan. After signing a three-year contract with Chelsea last summer, it was agreed that she’d return to California to finish her degree – if in-person learning resumed. It didn’t. That meant Fleming, and all of her classmates, spent their final year online. The London, ON native did that from England – while playing professional soccer for one of the country’s top teams.
“For the most part, professors were understanding about when students were writing exams,” Fleming said. “In a lot of my classes, you had some kids who were based out of California, some kids who were on the east coast, some in Europe, and some in Asia. I think, all-around, professors were understanding. It was an odd year for everyone.”
On the pitch, Chelsea enjoyed tremendous success, breaking club records for wins (18) and points (57) en route to defending their Women’s Super League title. A 5-0 win over Reading on the final day of the season clinched that honour.
That day was a season highlight for Fleming.
“We clinched at home, at Kingsmeadow, and we hadn’t had fans all season,” said Fleming. “That day, when we drove into the stadium, and after the game, there were a bunch of fans waiting outside the stadium for us with Chelsea flags and their jerseys on, and we got to share a moment with them.
“That was one of the most special moments of the season, just because it had been a year without fans and we hadn’t really had that interaction, so that was really special.”
Fleming, who signed a three-year contract with Chelsea FC last summer, spent her first year juggling a pro career and her final year of studies at UCLA. (Photo: Chelsea FC Women/Getty Images).
It was a nice way to cap off a highly successful season in which Chelsea won almost everything. “Everything,” Fleming says, “but that one big trophy …”
That trophy, of course, is the Women’s Champions League title. In their first-ever finals appearance this year, the Chelsea women fell 4-0 to Barcelona.
Individually, Fleming had a strong first year as a pro. She debuted on August 29, subbing in against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. Her Champions League debut came in December in a win over Portugal’s Benfica club. She earned her first start a week later. Against Bristol City in March, she played the full 90 minutes to help Chelsea repeat as FA Women’s League Cup Final champs. Overall, she played in 14 games her first year.
Most importantly, she got her feet wet in the pro game and improved throughout the season.
“We have a ton of talent on the team, so I definitely had to work hard for my minutes, but I’m happy to have gotten that first year under my belt and get a feel for the day-to-day of playing pro,” Fleming said. “With Chelsea, every game is treated kind of like a championship. There’s definitely a winning culture there, so to be a part of that is really exciting.”
Fleming embraced the chance to play with Pernille Harder, one of Europe’s top footballers (and a player Fleming counted as one of her favourites when she first joined the national team and began following the women’s game more closely). She also particularly enjoyed playing with fellow midfielders Ji So-Yun and Melanie Leupolz.
“It’s kind of crazy, being able to play with (Pernille) and have her as a teammate and a friend,” Fleming said. “There’s definitely that initial moment where, before you meet someone you admire, you’re starstruck or kind of awestruck by them, but, you know, you realize they’re just regular people. They have families. They’re just normal people. I’ve always loved that about football.”
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Fleming’s football career has come a long way since her early days in the game playing for the Nor’West Optimist Soccer Club in London (the other London), beginning at age 3. She showed immediate talent, not surprisingly, but she says she didn’t commit herself to playing soccer exclusively until she was around 16. Prior to that, she was also a talented runner, having claimed gold medals at both Ontario’s cross country and track and field championships.
After attending Ryerson Public School, she moved on to London Central Secondary School for two years, before switching to Beal Secondary School for Grades 11 and 12. The semestered system at Beal allowed her to train much more easily with Canada’s soccer program (she made her senior team debut at just 15 years of age). Before the Women’s World Cup in 2015, Fleming moved to Vancouver for half the year to train with the national team.
Just days after her first Olympic appearance in Rio in 2016, she was on the pitch for the UCLA Bruins, where she spent five seasons, on scholarship, and racked up her share of accolades. A three-year team captain, Fleming became just the third Bruin ever to earn first-team All-Pac-12 honours all four years, and she earned All-America honors three times. She finished her collegiate career with 25 goals, 22 assists and 72 points.
At UCLA, she also developed a keen interest in environmental science. Though her degree is in Materials Engineering, the 23-year-old says she’s interested in pursuing a career path in the area of her minor – when she’s done her soccer career, of course.
“There’s definitely a lot of intersection between the two, but I’m really interested in green building materials and making cities greener, whether it be through landscaping or the materials we use in construction and architecture,” Fleming said. “I took a course on sustainable architecture in my first year, and I got really interested and started enrolling in more and more and it turned into a minor.”
Not surprisingly, there were opportunities to go pro while she was still in school, including an offer, during her second year, from Barcelona, her favourite team growing up – at least on the men’s side (“The (Andrés) Iniesta, Xavi era … Barcelona of, like, 2011,” she says).
“There was definitely a lot of back and forth within myself about whether or not I wanted to leave school and try to finish it later,” said Fleming, who was supported by her parents throughout the decision-making process. “But, for me, there was definitely a realization that I have a life after I’m done playing soccer, and school has always been a huge part of my identity. It’s always been really important to me. I love the learning environment, and I definitely had a good situation at UCLA. I had really close friends and I really enjoyed the playing environment.
“I was quite happy, and I wasn’t necessarily ready to give that up. It was a hard decision to stay, but it was also a really easy decision for me. Reflecting on it now, I’m extremely happy that I stayed and finished what I started.”
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For now, though, Fleming is all-in on soccer, and she’s primed for big things – both with Chelsea and with Canada’s national team.
With Chelsea, she’s looking to continue improving as a player and help the club reach its goal – winning the Champions League.
“I want to continue to develop into the player I want to be and raise (myself) to that level,” Fleming said. “We have quite the roster of players, and I think it’s about wanting to push the standards of the club …just being a part of that and helping to continue to raise the bar to get us to that goal.”
Before she returns to England, though, she’s got some unfinished business at the Tokyo Olympics with the Canadian squad, where the midfielder will play a key role in trying to lift the team to a podium finish for an unprecedented third straight Games. She’s both passionate and focused about the task.
“Playing for Canada definitely holds an added weight for the whole team,” Fleming said. “And we’re definitely looking to outdo our past performances.”
Canada kicks off its Olympic journey on July 21 when they square off against Japan in the opening match of the tournament in Sapporo. They’ll play Chile on July 24, also in Sapporo, before wrapping up group E play against Great Britain in Kashima on July 27.
The top eight countries will then advance to the Olympic Quarterfinals. The tournament runs through August 6 when the gold medal match will be played at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium.
What does Fleming bring to Team Canada?
“I think my identity on the pitch is being a hard-working midfielder who distributes and kind of dictates the tempo of play,” she said. “And I think a big change for me has been stepping into more of a leadership role and growing a bit into my position on the team … just being more comfortable with who I am on the pitch.”
She’s excited about Canada’s chances. And, of course, she’s grateful for the opportunity …
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