We Are Chelsea - A New Blue... with Naomi Girma and Cat Macario

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

This is We are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Škoda, the official car partner of Chelsea Women and proud supporters of women's sport. www.skoda.co.uk Caz De Moraes welcomes new signing Naomi Girma to We Are Chelsea! She's alongside her best friend and US international team-mate Cat Macario as we get to know our new defender. But how many bags did Naomi bring over with her? What's she most looking forward to doing in London? And what did the two of them get up to in college? To watch the full episode on YouTube, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@chelseafc/videos Send us your questions to [e-mail] #WeAreChelsea Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Skoda, who are the official car partner for Chelsea Women's Sport, and they are proud supporters of women's sport. I'm Cazda Mores, and today I'm so excited to be joined by Chelsea's brand new signing, Naomi Germa, and her US international teammate, Cat Macario. Now, Naomi moved to Chelsea from San Diego Wave, and she joins up with midfielder Cat Macario, who's back for a six. second appearance on this podcast this season. This is We Are Chelsea with Naomi Germa and Kat Makari. Well, Naomi, welcome to We Are Chelsea the podcast, but also welcome to England. How are you settling in? It's been good so far. Yeah? Yeah. Did you care with the rain? Not too much rain yet. Good, fair. Yeah. I mean, okay, well, that's good that your standards are low for rain because there will be a lot of rain. She brought this on.

sunshine. Yeah, I tried. Yeah, it has been. And I've seated you next to your bestie. You guys are besties, right? Yeah. So Kat, if I was going to ask you to introduce Naomi to the listeners on the podcast, what would you say? No pressure. Introducing Naomi Gerba. Um, okay. let me see it a wholesome way um well nay is a very one of the best defenders in the world very humble um probably doesn't know how good she is so i constantly have to keep telling her i was like Naomi like come on um yeah just carries herself with a lot of grace um it's very funny it has the bat the best laugh in my opinion um thanks cat um yeah just very wholesome individual down for anything bit ticklish um good to know yeah um has some

ghost fingers very quick on the pitch not so much off the pitch and this is why it resists Two slow rollers right here. I love that. I love that. Off the pitch, you're slow. As in chilled, laid back. Like, I move slowly. Okay.

Okay. Like, we're normally, at least in college, we and national team too, we're normally the last few to leave the locker room. Okay. Like, what's the point? What's the rush? Yeah, what's the rush?

Yeah, literally. You're living the dream. You've got nowhere else to be. Yeah, just chill. Yeah. tough question how would you describe yourself in three words um bubbly uh determined and i don't know friendly it's kind of like bubbly yeah you are intelligent you're very intelligent okay i'll thank you yeah i don't think that i don't think myself of that

Naomi, you've previously said that you started playing football because of your dad. And he started to tell us a little bit about your entry into football. And was it because of his little team that he started? Yeah. Yeah, I started playing in San Jose with the Ethiopian community. And my dad started this little club. And I have an older brother. So he was playing first.

So I was like, oh, like, I want to play too. So yeah, that's how I started playing. Okay. And how big was the Ethiopian community? Because, well, as you know, off the podcast, I was speaking to Katyn Brazil, Brazilian. So I know what it's like when you have a parent who's Brazilian, my mom stuck very much to kind of the Brazilian. And we find our people and we do all of our things together. How big was the Ethiopian community?

And how important was it to you growing up? It was really important to me. My parents, yeah, we like found an Ethiopian community. There's a lot in the Bay area in Northern California. it wasn't hard but yeah there was a lot of us that grew up together and I think it was nice for my parents to have other people who had like come to the U.S. and were now raising kids in the U.S. for the first time so like for them it was like a new totally new experience and they didn't really it was like kind of like the blind leading the blind because like they hadn't grown up in the U.S. either so they're trying to figure things out as we're figuring them out as kids too so for them I feel like it was really nice to have that like community and then for us as kids just to have other kids who were like also in the same boat like trying to learn things figure things out as they go um i feel like i had it a little easier because i have an older brother who had to do it first um and then i came up and like could he's like

oh do this do that you know like high school tests all these things um so yeah i think it was really helpful and um it's a big part it was like huge part of my life like still but like growing up um the food it's like main if you open grab yeah we cats tried cats came over and had it when we were in college uh because i lived like 30 minutes from campus so um yeah it's like been a huge part of my life at what point did you realize that you were really good at football soccer and that this could be like was it back then when you were playing and you were in a small team but everyone was like whoa she's pretty good were you pretty good from the style?

Yeah, I mean, like, yeah, I was pretty good, but I don't think I thought that, like, this would happen, like, I'd be playing, like, internationally or for Chelsea. I feel like probably in college was when I, like, got more exposed to it, just, like, playing against, like, better players, playing against players across the country. Yeah, and, like, also, like, our team, like, at Stanford. we had a lot of like top players like little Naomi was still very good um yeah i mean

i mean you're so humble little Naomi was good yeah i feel like if it if it was me i'd be like i was brilliant from the start i just unfortunately can't say i just unfortunately can't say that because it was not true to be honest there are definitely a lot of times even now when i have to be like Naomi you are amazing like and she that's my hype woman good i mean i'm like Naomi like come on um yeah so okay i'm cat's hype woman too good i'm glad you've got each other's backs can we play a little game with you too yeah so it's going to be quick fire who's your most listened to artist on spotify or opera music wherever you get it.

Taylor Swift. I'm on off of music. Well, yeah, honestly, over, over, I, I'm in the top 13% of Spotify listeners. Fun fact, I got a little digital bracelet. But this was because obviously she was coming here over the summer and he was able to get some tickets. myself um yeah i know it's a once in a lifetime opportunity i know i would have yeah of course yeah are you a swiftie too no um yeah she's like if there's the opportunity for tickets yes no i like taylor swift like i would have definitely gone to her concert

who'd you listen to the most um i listened to a lot of scissor scissor okay nice so I was here new I think so okay fair okay yeah yeah

sorry what was the last thing you watched on TV Love Island Love Island UK or American All Stars oh the UK one

yeah what about you catched what was the last thing I watched oh dairy girls oh my god great show yeah yeah dairy girls that will get you used to the irish accent yeah i've seen like one episode yeah no it there sometimes it gives me a headache but i yeah i was like okay yeah it's really

funny yeah it is funny isn't it i love dairy girls great shot i was expecting you to say traitors but neither of you said traitors oh good yeah i've seen that popping up i haven't i haven't watched it yeah um who's better at replying to what's ups yeah yeah but like not by no no i mean i don't know that's pretty bad i'm like notoriously known for yeah horrible i reply like yeah it's like catch like maybe a few weeks we respond in like three days no you go like it depends it depends who it is it depends on the conversation because it's kind of i'm just someone that's like if someone's like oh how are you i was like there's so much going on like i'm sorry just call me like i can't just like we drop like a voice message you know like it

depends but obviously if it's just like nay or like some like one like some of my best friends and it's like okay like I can you know it would take a few days yeah club staff I usually have like like three days yeah three business days yeah yeah but obviously when Naomi was coming here I was like all right chop chop face time every day you were she was on it I was like okay what do you need or you said yeah who copes better with cold weather well probably in thinking but to be honest I did already tell Naomi, I was like, okay, this is what you need. Go to Uniclo. And you need to buy this, this and that. Like, you need to have three

layers on at all times to survive this cold. Yeah, I was like, yeah, I just have a tank top on. Oh, my gosh. I've arrived with my California wardrobe. Yeah, I have. Seven bags. Seven bags, to be exact. Of summer clothing. No, no, no. Seven bags. One bag is like stuff for my apartment, like

photos, like to run my home. Okay, cute. Fine. Yeah. fine understandable one bag is toilet trees yeah i'd be like that who'd run a faster marathon oh no doubt okay yeah i'll take that one yeah so humble of you who drinks marathon yeah yeah you anything you who drinks more coffee how many coffees you drink per day two maybe

okay I drink more yeah I mean Ethiopian coffee and Brazilian coffee that's right it's strong yeah we do have

we do have the same order basically yeah we do I watch your order vanilla latte never have I ever had a more

American phrase what do you want from start ice vanilla vanilla latte. It's just too cold here, maybe a hot one. The UK listeners are like, that's exactly how we

imagine American girls to be. That's how exactly how we're just reinforcing. That's exactly how we imagine it. Who'd make the best politician? Naomi. I could be a lawyer, though. It could come for blood. Can I come for people's neck?

It's like, did you respect me or one of my friends? This podcast is brought to you by Skoda, the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. It's football season, time for afterwork training, muddy boots and early morning weekend games. Whether you're playing five-a-side after work, cheering the kids on from the sidelines on a Saturday morning, or gathering with your mates to watch the big leagues each weekend. Skoda's the perfect companion for your everyday adventures.

Lip around town in the fully electric eniac or give the squad a lift home in the all new seven-seater Kodiak. There's something in the range to suit teams of all shapes and sizes. Don't just take my word for it though. Search the Skoda range today to jump in and see for yourself. What are you most looking forward to off the pitch here in London? So many things. Hanging out with Kat, obviously. exploring London, trying all the food.

Am I right in thinking this is the first time that you're living outside of the US? First time outside of California. Wow. And you've picked London. I think that's a pretty good pick. I think so. I think so too. Yeah. I heard good things from Kat. Thought I might as well go big, you know. And every time I come here, I love it. So I knew it would be a good place to live. I have to ask you about walking out at Stamford Bridge, saying hi to all the fans. How did it feel? Were you nervous beforehand?

Yes. At such a big game as well. Yeah. So how did you feel? What was the reception like? And I guess what was the feeling beforehand to how it actually went? Yeah, I was definitely nervous before. I feel like I was like sneaking around the stadium to come in.

to not ruin the surprise. Yeah. Surprise. But no, it was really cool. And there was a lot of behind the scenes that happened, like, for all that to go the way it did. So they did a great job. And I just had to walk out, do a little wave. It was definitely cool to be on the pitch at Stanford Bridge.

Great crowd, great atmosphere. Then I waved, and I walked off, and I was like, oh, my God. Smelling wave, boys Smiling wave, smile and wave Yeah But how good does she look? Like I was like, Naomi outfit, bang on my God,

oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Queen moments, yeah, queen moments. How different are the fans here in the UK compared to the US? Well, I don't, I guess I haven't, I haven't played, but I feel like there's there is more passion

around the club game. What do you think? Because it's, I feel like, like it's different. Like college sports is huge in America that we don't really have here, right? The college in everything is basketball, it's soccer, it's American football, it's everything, right? The college kind of sports are huge out there and people get really behind their college. Is that right? Whereas we have more the clubs. I mean, yeah, I'd say, you know, like usually it's like alumni that would support Stanford where we went to. And then obviously they, if there was a team that was

especially good than they would go and cheers on but it was a lot of just you know like mainly like little kids like kind of like random people like um not random people but just like parents trying to local parents trying to take their kids to see you know um trying to inspire their their children into potentially wanting to do that um going forward um while here obviously our fans are massive and they come from everywhere all over the world um you know like no matter where we go then they're always there um and yeah you can really just tell the passion that they have and you know like whether it's like through chance you know like even when we're playing uh in extremely cold weather they're always there um and it's yeah it's really it's really impressive um yeah it even sometimes mom's like wow

like to endure all that like that that that that's asking like basically like basically club just like only a parent's love to do that but like it's actually just like Chelsea fans you know so yeah it's something that's really special what did you say to Naomi before she joined Chelsea you have to come Chelsea's the best you did say that yeah she said you're going to love it great team great people yeah yeah you're going to get better you're going to be pushed yeah no one yeah she was like Like you're going to love London. You have to live in London.

What have the first few days been like around the club, getting to know not only the team. I mean, obviously it's great having Kat, but getting to know the other girls and then meeting the coaching staff, everyone else at the club. What's it been like? It's been great.

Everyone's been so welcoming. A lot of new names. Yeah. A lot of names to remember. But everyone, yeah, everyone's been so nice, welcoming. And it's just like, I'm so happy to finally be here.

and be at the facility and be able to just, like, be in the locker room and around the team. And Kat, how have Mike Reneath handled you bringing in one of your besties? Yeah, I mean, obviously they know that's like, yeah, Naomi is, I've always told them, like, you know, she's a tremendous football player, but she's an even better person. So I've always told everyone that's like, you're going to love her. Like, she's such an angel, like, very sweet. And, yeah, I mean, I'm sure they'll see it for themselves. but they can already tell from the first few days,

it's like, yeah, like, every time you're walking to a room, it's just like brain and so. Tell me what you two were like in college. I mean, I feel like I'm getting an idea from the amount of giggles that I'm getting on this podcast. But tell me what you were like back in college. You went to Stanford. You won the 2019 national championship.

Talk me through some of your favorite moments. One of my favorite moments, actually, from that 2019 national championship was beating me official. Yeah, we beat her in the semifinal. Yeah, yeah. We do have a good banter going on around the locker room that's like, you know, Stanford. Yeah, Stanford, UCLA. Fear the tree. For the tree.

Yeah. Bad. That was a good. Yeah. That was a good memory. That was a good one. We had, I feel like we were really different then. Yeah, fair.

Yeah, true. I mean, we were like biking the classes and then biking the training and then doing. Biking is in cycling. Yeah, you have to bike everywhere. Yeah. And we both were like, not good. You're not good at cycling.

Like, I don't know, I just feel like we were both like, we struggled with that. Like 5 a.m. Yeah, it's like raining and you're like head down with your backpack on. Yeah. But we did have some very fun times in college. Yeah. That's, yeah, some very wholesome times.

Did you join a sorority? When I think of American college, that's what I think of. and what did you have to like do an initiation um not really or what's the sorority like because we don't have that in the UK I feel like we didn't have like the traditional experience because like Stanford the sororities like aren't as serious as it would be like a different school like in the south okay yeah so I feel like for us it was like just like a group of friends kind yeah and a chef yeah you lived in a mansion technically it was like a dorm house yeah house and then it was like you could get really good food yeah and

like amazing like really good housing yeah on campus because you had to live on campus all four years but obviously because you're athletes and we're kind of gone for a lot of the times anyway so it's not like we could really do everything that we wanted but okay it was something that was like it was nice to have other friends outside of just you know our team let's talk a little bit about UCLA because you mentioned Mia and we don't really know like I was saying about the rivalries that you've got so like for football lacrosse basketball like it'd be like a rivalry in every sport so you'd go watch like the basketball game like versus UCLA and it'd be like a big thing or like football American football versus Cal and it'd be like a big rivalry like the London Derby essentially

okay so how does it compare to the London Derby like that would be like Stanford and yeah because they're both like in the bay area northern california and the football game is american football game is always like a big yeah and then so basically cow was like their mascot was a bear and obviously we were our mascot was a tree yeah so that um yeah it was not the best but they're a nation it was a dancing tree yeah it was a dancing tree yeah um So basically they had like an axe. Remember they had like an axe that basically it's like whoever won that match would take the axe home. And it's like I think it was like the band would keep it.

Would keep it. And like but they would have it in chains like so that because they would try and steal it like all the time. Basically the other school would try and steal it all the time. So it was like kind of like capture the flag. But like they took it very, very seriously. And it was like a big thing when like if you won and the other team school had act you would take it yeah how difficult was it to balance your studies as well when you're i guess what did you major in i majored in communication and minor in psychology oh look at you what did

you major in and what did you minor in uh i majored in symbolic systems and symbolic systems i didn't get a minor standpoint in it what is symbolic systems it's it's Computer science, psychology, philosophy, and linguistics. So you could like take classes in any of the departments. That's much cool. Wow. She is intelligent. She's very intelligent.

Wow. I just saw people on the team doing it before me. Oh, that's cool. I'll try that. Oh my gosh. And does this psychology come and help you ahead of games? I mean, yeah. I think it was just something that I always, I was always interested.

in. I do have a psychologist in general just to, that helps me and prepare for the game. But, yeah. Because it is a mental game. There's so much pressure. Oh, yeah. Yeah. There is so preparation. So. Yeah. Preparation in it. Absolutely. You're going to get you still in it. Do you think she sounds British? No. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying she sounds British. I was like she doesn't sound British. No, not real. I would say sometimes when I, at least when I went home over Christmas, some of my friends are like, oh my gosh, you're saying some things that are kind of like sounding English.

No. And I'm like, what? And she's like, yeah, when you order that coffee, you're like, can I get a vanilla latte, please? And I like, you know, just like the way that. The way you ask your questions. Yeah, maybe. And I was like, oh, yeah, too much time spent with Neve Charles.

Well, no. to us you definitely still sound yeah i was like there's no way or if i just say proper like oh that was like proper hard they're like oh my god so british maybe in the slang maybe in the way you're so british oh my gosh right my absolute last questions what are your goals for this season at chelsea and what are you most excited about for this chapter win everything and spend time with Naomi. Aw, strong and sweet,

but very good. And yours, Naomi? Win everything and spend time with cat. She's like a vanilla lattes together. Scoo, scoodoo. Thank you so. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

There's been more laughter on this podcast than ever. Just giggles. Thank you so much, Naomi. And good luck this season. Thank you. Thank you for listening to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association

with Scoda, who are the official car partner for Chelsea women, and they are proud supporters of women's sport. Thanks to everyone who sent in their questions, and you too can send in yours by emailing us at We Are Chelsea at chelcfc.com, or you can leave us a comment on our YouTube channel. We'll see you next time.