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The Rodman name might just be about to have a whole new dimension added to its reputation.
Dennis, of course, is one of America’s biggest ever stars – a five-time NBA champion and one of the best defensive players basketball has ever seen.
But the world is about to be introduced to his daughter Trinity, potentially the ace in the pack of a USA team that is taking a shot at history at the women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Tournament victory here would make the USA the first team in men or women’s soccer to win three straight World Cups.
‘We’re the most ruthless team, we’re never going to give up and we’re going to get the title,’ Rodman said earlier in July. ‘This team is something special. We want it more than ever, so I expect a gold medal.’
The 21-year-old Rodman is supremely confident in herself and her team but her story is one of hard graft, overcoming the odds and, sadly, a difficult relationship with her father.
Trinity Rodman expects her USA team to win the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand
She is the daughter of NBA legend Dennis Rodman but they don’t have an easy relationship
But on the soccer field, Rodman is an immense talent who will carve out her own reputation
In an extensive profile with RedBull.Com, she was described as ‘not keen to discuss the past, present or future of that relationship’ but did lift the lid on her own upbringing with her mother, Michelle.
‘Growing up, people didn’t really know what my family and I were going through,’ she said. ‘They didn’t know what we had or didn’t have.
‘But when I was on the field, everything was equal – there was no talk about finances or living situations or family stuff. It was just soccer – the ball and the field and me. I was always happy on the field. And I still feel the same way.’
At one stage in her childhood, Trinity and her brother DJ lived in a Comfort Inn hotel room near Newport Beach in California with Michelle, who said her goal as a mother was ‘to keep them busy… to keep their minds focused on goals’.
Quite literally, in Rodman’s case. But when word got out who her father was, it made her a target.
Greg Baker, who coached her as a nine-year-old, told the New York Post: ‘It was getting heated on the sidelines, and people like to go at Trin because of her last name.
‘The best way to describe it was verbal jabs, saying she is overrated.’
But her response, even then, was spectacular: ‘It was on at that point,’ he said, ‘Trin starts blitzing players and putting on a show.
Rodman is a skilled attacker who will be key for the USA in its bid for a third straight World Cup
Trinity once posted on Instagram that she doesn’t have the best relationship with her dad
‘She looked like a next level athlete. When she is motivated, look out.’
Baker described Dennis as a rare presence at her games: ‘I think I only saw him three times in ten years.’
The most Trinity has spoken about her father’s influence was in 2021, when he surprised her by attending a Washington Spirit game to see her play.
She posted a picture of the two hugging on the sideline and wrote: ‘Yes Dennis rodman showed up to an Nwsl game, but also my dad, after YEARS surprised me at a big game in my career, I was shocked, overwhelmed, happy, sad, everything.
‘My dad doesn’t play a big role in my life at all and most people don’t know that, we don’t see eye to eye on many things. I go months if not years without his presence or communication.
‘Being in spotlights has been hard for us, him and me. We don’t have the best relationship, but at the end of the day he’s human I’m human… he’s my dad, and I’m his little girl that will never change. I will improve and look forward everyday as I hope he does.’
Rodman underlined her glowing potential with both goals in the USA’s final warmup game against Wales, which they won 2-0. She also impressed on her World Cup debut against Vietnam Friday, overcoming an early knock to be a menace all night on the right-hand side.
Rodman is a confident character with inbuilt resilience from a testing upbringing
Now, she heads to the World Cup looking to show everyone why she’s so highly rated
She expects to leave Australia as a World Cup winner and at 21 years old, has a huge future ahead of her.
‘I think she has the quality to be something that this planet hasn’t seen in women’s soccer,’ her coach at Washington Spirit, Mark Parsons, has said.
‘It’s rare that you find a player with all these qualities, and she’s only 21. She can of course run behind you,
‘But she also can dribble at your left or your right. She can shoot with both feet. She can pass across and combine with her teammates. You have to be greedy as a striker, but she understands that she wants to feed easy opportunities, too.’
