Trillium Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=4782 The Players: Christina Julien How quickly can you jump? Well, when the national team calls, you better be able to jump pretty quickly. For young forward Christina Julien, it took her just a few hours from the time she was called to the time she was on a plane heading west to the Canadian national team camp organized by newly-hired head coach, Carolina Morace. That was February 2009. Julien was at school (James Madison University), playing table tennis with a friend when she received a call out of the blue from national assistant coach Andrea Neil. The invitation was Julien’s first to a national camp – at any level – so you can pardon her if she wasnt fully prepared when the call came through. Fortunately, Julien’s head coach David Lombardo was there to help. Julien said Lombardo “took care of everything,” contacting Julien’s professors while she just got on a plane and headed for the national camp in California. She arrived at two or three in the morning, then was up early for her first training session with the national team. “It was scary and intimidating,” said Julien of her first camp with the national team. Canada’s women’s national team has a strong core group of players that has been together for as long as 10 years dating back to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2002. Most of the players have played in the national program at one level or another, be it under then-national coach Even Pellerud or national assistant and U-20 head coach Ian Bridge. Julien never had the experience of playing for either Pellerud or Bridge. Instead, she was one of the new call ups by Morace, the new head coach that was hired in 2009 for both the national and U-20 teams. Julien made the team and has been part of Morace’s group of forwards ever since. In fact, she even scored in her international debut on 5 March 2009, the opening goal of a 1:1 draw with New Zealand. Julien grew up in Williamstown, ON and played in nearby Cornwall with the Blazers. She joined the Ottawa Fury program at age 15 and then enrolled at James Madison University at age 18. A multi-sport star, she had won a gold medal at the Women’s U-18 Hockey Challenge with Ontario Red (the provincial program had two teams in the competition) in the year before she enrolled at JMU. Since 2009, Julien has made 24 appearances for Canada (including six in 2011 through early May). She has scored five goals, including a team-best three at the 2010 Cyprus Women’s Cup. In November 2010, she helped Canada win the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier, helping Canada qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011. “Winning against Mexico in Mexico in Qualifying was a highlight,” said Julien, who came in as a substitute for the last seven minutes of the championship final. “The final whistle was pretty amazing.” Julien said she has had her personal highs and lows since joining the program in 2009, but she is progressively getting better and should hopefully be peaking at her best when the FIFA Women’s World Cup begins in Germany. “I want to get into a couple of games,” said Julien. “I think we have a chance of winning, we have a very good core of players that are very hungry, plus young players that are going to push them. So we have a very good combination.” Still 23 years young, Julien is one of those players that is quickly pushing her way into the Canadian lineup on a regular basis. The Canadian attack Christina Julien is taking part in her first FIFA Women’s World Cup cycle in the build up to Germany 2011. Introduced to the team in 2009, she is one of those young players pushing the veterans for a place in the starting XI. Amongst the veterans ahead of her are captain Christine Sinclair and Melissa Tancredi. Julien remembers meeting Sinclair – a living, breathing women’s football scoring legend – for the first time in 2009. As Julien soon learned, Sinclair is just one of the girls on the national team, a teammate to all who wear the Canadian jersey. Before that first meeting, however, Julien only knew Sinclair for her incredible talents on the pitch. “It was intimidating, I still remember my first one on one against her in training,” said Julien. “She is just an awesome player and person to meet.” Julien said that she has learned plenty playing alongside Sinclair, such as the preparation and focus required “even for practice.” She also said that Sinclair has an incredible understanding of the game and has the ability to “change a game” just when the odds may seem stacked against you. Come June, Julien hopes to be playing alongside Sinclair as one of the five to seven forwards named by coach Morace to the FIFA Women’s World Cup team. “We (the group of forwards) really push each other, because we know one day we could be playing and on another day we could be on the bench,” said Julien. “We all want to succeed (personally), but ultimately we all want Canada to win.” Nice article on an up an comer on the team, its interesting how she is a pure Morace pick and did not need to be sent to "re-education camps" for the Pellerud era players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwntfan Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Great article on Julien. Look for her to shine this summer. I thought the CSA said they'll be doing "The Players" feature every 3 days. This article was posted 7 days ago lol. Ah well.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 There was another article on her in the Seaway paper a day or two ago, maybe Trillium can find the link... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 There was another article on her in the Seaway paper a day or two ago, maybe Trillium can find the link... National treasure By TODD HAMBLETON THAMBLETON @ STANDARD-FREEHOLDER.COM Posted 2 days ago CORNWALL -- She's won a lot of awards over the years. It's hard to top the one Christina Julien captured on Wednesday night. Julien was named 2011 recipient of the Jacques Richard Memorial Trophy, presented annually to the region's top athlete at the Cornwall Lions Club Sports Award Dinner. The gala was held at the Best Western Parkway last night, with dozens of local athletes receiving awards. Julien is in Rome, Italy, with the Canadian national women's soccer team, preparing for the World Cup later this summer. She was apprised of her Jacques Richard Trophy win during a recent trip home to Cornwall. "I was really surprised,'' said Julien, the first women's soccer player to ever receive the trophy. "This is the best honour ever.'' Julien hasn't been officially named to the team for the World Cup (June 26 to July 17), but she's considered to have an inside track on one of the six or seven forward positions. That's plenty of motivation to seal the deal and play on the world stage, where Julien first stepped late in the winter of 2009, when, seemingly out of nowhere (James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, actually), she was given a tryout and went on to play for Canada as a 20-year-old striker at the Cyprus Cup tournament. But that's nothing, compared to what's directly in front of her. "It makes me proud to be from (the Cornwall area) and be on the World Cup team,'' said Julien, who attended high school at Char-Lan in Williamstown. Always on the shy side, Julien now seems more comfortable embracing the fact she's become an idol for many young female soccer players in Eastern Ontario -and beyond. But she hasn't forgotten who's helped get her this far, and that includes her long-time personal athletic trainer, Jeff Gibbs. Julien, 23, has appeared in 24 national team games, starting five of them, and she's collected five goals so far. Canada's striker is a superstar in the sport, Christine Sinclair, so Julien's role has evolved since her days with the NCAA Colonials, where she did an outrageous amount of goal-scoring and play-making. "I see myself (at the international level) as a defensive player, who can come in when we have a lead to check,'' said Julien during her recent trip home. Julien was still at JMU when she was called up by new Canadian head coach Carolina Morace. Julien is seen as one of the team's up-and-coming players, pushing veterans like Sinclair and Melissa Tancredi. "We (the group of forwards) really push each other, because we know one day we could be playing and on another day we could be on the bench,'' Julien said. "We all want to succeed (personally), but ultimately we all want Canada to win.'' And the team has won. Last November, Julien helped Canada finish on top at at the 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifier. "Winning against Mexico in Mexico in (a qualifier) was a highlight,'' said Julien, who substituted in for the last seven minutes of the championship final. "The final whistle was pretty amazing.'' As for Germany, Julien said she wants to "get into a couple of games. . . I think we have a chance of winning. We have a very good core of players who are very hungry.'' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwntfan Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 http://canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=4791 No way! I just did an interview with Rhian that's going up on CSN tomorrow. Way to steal my thunder, CSA lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.