Trinity Rodman was determined to get her United States Women’s National Team coach Emma Hayes to celebrate with her. No matter how much Hayes refused, the star forward was determined.
‘She tries to act like she doesn’t like attention. And I told her, I literally said this to her. I was like, ‘You love it. You would do it,” Rodman said at NWSL media day on Thursday. ‘And I know it’s in there.”
That was days before Rodman took Hayes by surprise by hitting the ‘Sexy Dexy’ in front of her after scoring a goal in USA’s 6-0 win against Paraguay on Saturday, Jan. 24.
Her coach refused.
‘I’m 49 years of age,’ Hayes told reporters at the time. ‘There’s no chance I’m doing that!’
But according to Rodman, even assistant coach Denise Reddy agreed in her assessment that despite her public comments, Hayes secretly loved the dance. Sure enough, in the three days between the USWNT’s two friendlies, the coach began to practice her dance moves. Feeling like she was too stiff, she initially enlisted center back Tara Rudd’s help — who then gave Rodman a call.
Rodman was getting her nails done when she heard from Rudd.
‘I’ll be right there,’ she remembers telling her teammate.
Then on Tuesday, Jan. 27, Rodman got the ball on the wing, entered the box, side-stepped a Chile defender and fired a shot into the net just past the outstretched arms of the diving goalkeeper to put USA up 5-0. She ran over to the sideline again. And this time, Hayes joined in on the celebration.
‘Game day, I was like, ‘If you don’t do it, it’s gonna be an issue,” Rodman said. ‘And then she did it, and she had a great time.’