Lawrenceville’s Walker Zimmerman is participating in his first training camp with the U.S. men’s national soccer team.
Zimmerman, 23, recently finished his fourth season with Dallas in MLS.
It was his most successful season.
He started 30 games, scoring four goals, and helping the team win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and finish atop the Western Conference.
The U.S. team will play Serbia on Jan. 29 in San Diego and Jamaica on Feb. 3 in Chattanooga.
He answered a few questions following U.S. practice on Wednesday at the StubHub Center.
Q: What’s your goal during this training camp? What’s your goal?
A: The goal is trying to solidify that I can play at this level, play at the highest level there is, international competition. To get the opportunity to go and prove yourself. I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent the United States.
This being my first time at the full men’s level, it’s important to make the case to make it to qualifiers and just kind of work my way into the system.
Q: Any nerves?
A: No, no nerves. A lot of these guys you play against week in and week out. I’ve known a couple of them for a while. At the end of the day it’s fun to get to play with the top players from around the league. There’s great camaraderie you can build, great friendships, great teammates. It’s just a lot of fun.
Q: Has Bruce Arena or his assistants given you any direction on what they want to see from you?
A: Nothing specific yet. It’s very early. We had our first team meeting last night to welcome us in. Kind of just outlined the goals for the team and what they are looking for in this camp, which is identifying some new players potentially. As well as get to see everyone’s form and at the same time know we have a big task in March in qualification.
Q: How long have you been waiting for this?
A: I would say my whole life. Ever since I wanted to be a professional athlete. This is the highest level you can achieve. It’s something you dream of. To finally be here, but there’s still a lot of steps to go. You dream of the World Cup, the biggest of stages. This is just a stepping stone with the men’s national team. Hopefully there’s many more to come.
Q: Did you seek advice from anyone on how to approach this camp?
A: No, not really. Having been involved with the youth teams you get an idea of the system of U.S. soccer, the competitive nature, the team-first mentality and building unity that’s served the U.S. very well at past World Cups. It’s nothing different here, just maybe a little bit of a bigger stage.
Q: Was there a U.S. men’s defender that you looked up to growing up in Lawrenceville?
A: Look back at the World Cups, and Carlos Bocanegra is the first name that comes to mind. His leadership embodies this mentality that we are trying to get back to a little bit, or looking to enhance during this qualification.
