From strangers in the airport who wished her well upon spotting her Seminoles gear to the plush hotel in Minnesota, the sights and sounds of a road trip had only amplified a caffeine-like rush that left her wide awake to ponder what the game would bring, how fast it would feel, how long she had waited for it. So what led you to make that decision? I just wanted to enjoy soccer, and enjoy my teammates, and enjoy the game. But I'm not going to do it myself. And I think we're getting there. By Drew Weisholtz. "I basically spent the whole day feeling sorry for myself," says Mike. And no one is going to be able to learn from that. "It was so eye-opening to hear what other people do." But I'm not going to show it on social media. You've certainly made a statement in your return to the league, getting consecutive starts with the club. Carson Pickett made history Tuesday night when she became the first player with a limb difference to play for the United States womens She'd come asking -- her friends were doing it -- and they'd gone along with it. Suddenly, Treasure and Mike were scrambling and hastily booking travel online. And I think that [loss] was really tough for our team. 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Do you talk to them about it directly? He and Treasure also waited tables at Red Lobster on the weekends to get ready for the baby on the way. PEPPER PERSLEY: Yeah, and everyone can make an impact, right? Discovery Company. A day later, she confirmed: "I'm starting." At dinner that night, tablemates were assigned at random. ", Debinha gets her goal!She rounds the keeper and calmly finishes for 10th of the season. ", In her caption on the Instagram post, she wrote: "I want to be an advocate for others like me, and for the longest time I didn't use my platform well enough. And it's super important to show out and show up for girls and women who are living their dreams playing sports. Some people didn't play with the people that they're playing with now for like months and months, and you're used to playing for nearly a year with them. She finished her shopping in a haze, called him back, and heard the words she'd dreamt of: We'd like to bring you in. "And I've learned that. The kids who ate orange slices together at U-6 soccer had fulfilled the dream they'd sketched out in back seats and on fields across the south. PEPPER PERSLEY: All right. Whether you know people or not. Can Barca overcome on-field fatigue, off-field chaos to beat Real Madrid in Copa del Rey? Pickett, who was born without a left forearm and is an advocate for limb difference awareness, sat down for a chat with CBS Sports ahead of the match to discuss a variety of topics, among them her first season with her new club and getting acclimated to competitive environments in Courage Country. You were named to the team of the month in May, and at CBS sports you made our star player index. So in that sizzle reel, we saw a video when you had an incredible impact on a little boy with a limb difference just like you. From the beginning, she played all the sports. USWNT's Carson Pickett discusses showing limb difference on social media (2:26), Why Carson Pickett's limb difference hasn't stopped her from the USWNT or maybe, she hopes, a World Cup. "It's like a floating rubber band that wraps around a body part and prevents it from growing," Mike explains. "I would say there are just people out there who would give me more sympathy than I need," Pickett said. PEPPER PERSLEY: All right. PEPPER PERSLEY: Hi, everyone. Pickett celebrates the USA's 2-0 victory against Colombia. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length. The strangers reassured the Picketts that it was far from the end of the world, that their own daughter was as healthy, happy and independent as any other girl, right down to tying her own shoes, a minute detail that might seem part of an incomprehensibly distant future for most new parents, but which meant much more to the Picketts. So I think fitness-wise, obviously, it was really tough. I think Chicago, for some reason, no matter what team I've been on, has always been a really hard place to go and take points from. "They'd ask, 'Why don't you have an arm?' They weren't able to express themselves through sports. And even more exciting than that is I get to interview someone who is so incredible and inspiring. Different people are my kind of people. Doing drills by yourself just isn't the same as doing it in a team environment with a standard [that's] super, super high. Sometimes, you're going to succeed. They smiled so big when we walked in. And I think people hide behind screens and things like that. Mr. Pickett didn't let that slide, responding: "You want to repeat that?". So that's what I want to leave you all with. By Drew Weisholtz. She was the team's starting center-back and allowed zero goals during the course of tournament. @Cars_Pickett16 is the FIRST player with a limb difference to play in a USWNT game! She never wanted that one detail to be what defined her. She received the most recent version around the time she turned 18. Pittsburgh currently has Kenny Pickett as the face of the franchise and needs to make space behind him. While she considers herself a pretty technical player, the 27 year old thrives on setting up teammates. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Within a week, Mike went to work at school with his arm tied behind his back because he wanted to understand what the world would be like for his daughter. So I kind of thought that dream had passed. Please enter valid email address to continue. "You need to be you. Pinoe, as Rapinoe is known by her teammates, played in front of Carson, and Pinoe had this way of grinning at you conspiratorially, making you feel welcome and at ease, joking with you until the nerves went away. Tell us about your start in sports and your first soccer memory. One year her dad stuck a giant yellow piece of paper in the center of her mirror that read: "You're either getting by or you're getting better." She was at a six day school, as-- in charge, and now she's leading the county office, and things like that. Carson Pickett became the first player with a limb difference to play for the US Womens National Team (USWNT) on Tuesday as she helped her side to a 2-0 victory in a friendly against Colombia. USWNT defender Carson Pickett speaks at the 2022 MAKERS Conference and opens up about showing her limb difference on social media. No, it was this year. Training here is, is just it's hard no matter what week it is, but I will say this week has been very difficult in the best way possible. Truth be told, Mike was a soccer player, but a fledgling P.E. It wasn't made up, I didn't plan it," Pickett said. So I continued to work hard, and no matter what. "You've waited a long time for this," he told the then-28-year-old defender. "She probably wore it for ten minutes," says Mike. "We didn't know if she'd sink to the bottom of the pool when she jumped in.". I feel like even off the field, obviously, it was just as tough as it is on the field and, you know, training by yourself just isn't the same as training with the team. So I know that for you, language is very important when it comes to awareness. "You know, you hear about Michael Jordan being competitive, and I've never met Michael Jordan, but as far as the people I have met, that family is by far the most competitive," Joseph says. At the Makers Conference, seas of influential women walked through the halls. Rather than her being comfortable, she wants everyone else to be comfortable.". I loved making their day. #ThatsaW pic.twitter.com/wjlnubWfgc, The girls' dads, two of whom are former players themselves, said to the coaching director: tell you what -- put them all on the C team and we'll coach them ourselves for free. And just allow yourself to fail. On Sept. 15, 1993, Treasure gave birth to a baby girl, Carson. Published They see someone tremendously talented on a soccer field. "This was the club that believed that I could be good enough," she says. And I had never been called into a full sized national team. Pickett has become an integral part of her club; she was named to the 2021 NWSL First-Team Starting XI and was a finalist for 2021 Defender of the Year. And yet even in familiar surroundings, college itself was a new environment. At practice, when they picked teams, the boys fought over the girls, because the girls were better. Looking at the present, you and the Courage faced a bit of a challenge in a recent narrow loss against Chicago, and postgame, Paul Riley mentioned that it was back to the drawing board, which isn't the first time he's said that after matches against Chicago. "Seeing him gives him and me just as much joy as seeing my best friends," Pickett said. "No way we'd miss it. 5 ft 8 in. "I knew she had a lot of advantages going into soccer," Mike said. That one scared her parents the most. That's how she does things. Pickett declined to comment for this story on what it was like to have the coach who championed her fired for such dismaying allegations, but she does clarify that it wasn't just Riley who had believed in her and empowered her with the Courage -- the team did, too. So the last question I want to ask you is about Title IX, which I'm sure is important to everyone in this room. A photo was recently snapped of the two arm-bumping after a recent game and it went viral. Can you leave tomorrow?" But this team is so fit, and I think the coolest part is that they run before practice, like before the training starts, the first thing they do is run. And I want to put it on my Instagram. It helped that she went to the same school from grade school through high school and had a familiar network of friends. The day I sit down with her at the Waldorf Astoria, she is a featured speaker at the prestigious Makers Conference, a leadership event that brings together hundreds of the most powerful women in the world: she is on a stage sharing her experience with a wide audience. When, in reality, I can probably do things just as easily as other people.". "I remember multiple times trying to hide my arm so that they didn't see my arm before they got to know me," says Carson. Mireya Villarreal is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles. And you will play in Colorado and Utah against a couple of teams. Florida State freshman midfielder Carson Pickett was born without a left arm, but it's her extraordinary attitude that sets her apart. "You never want to hear that there's an issue." CARSON PICKETT: Yeah, I think visibility is the most important thing. Pickett made her international debut during a friendly against Colombia and played the full 90 minutes at left-back position. 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