It’s not every teenager that spends days at a time with a documentary film crew standing over their shoulder. But that’s exactly the situation Szwed found herself in as the CBC filmed Girls of Summer, which followed the journey of several players, including Szwed’s Loyola classmate Angelika Uremovich, as they battled for a spot on the national under-17 soccer team.

That process culminated last week as Szwed and the Canadian squad played in the inaugural Under-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand. (Uremovich also made the team but an injury prevented her from participating.)

Szwed said the Canadian squad went in with high hopes for the tournament, but an unfortunate draw matched them up against Germany in the quarter-finals. The European champions won 3-1 and went on to win the bronze medal.

“We were expecting to do better, but we were very proud of our group performance,” Szwed said.

Canada was undefeated in group play, beating the hosts 1-0 in its opening game and then playing to two draws, 1-1 against Columbia and 0-0 against Denmark. Despite having the same record, Denmark would take first in the pool based on goal differential.

Although the players in the documentary — which can be viewed at cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/girlsofsummer — expressed their fears of not making the team, Szwed said unusual circumstances of the tryouts, the presence of cameras and interviews helped them prepare for the World Cup. Though it was the biggest tournament of her life, Szwed wasn’t nervous.

“There were tons of people there and a lot of media but honestly, I didn’t really notice,” she said. “Nobody was nervous when there were cameras around. We kind of got used to it.”

Szwed, a midfielder, played every minute of Canada’s four games at the tournament.

“It was an awesome experience. It helped me as a player. Every game you learn more and more,” she said.

Szwed, 17, hopes to continue playing for Canada with the Under-20 squad, which is currently playing its own World Cup in Chile.

In the meantime, Szwed will continue to train in Vaughan with her national team coach Bryan Rosenfeld, who is also the Ontario Soccer Association’s director of player development.

In addition to preparing for future national team camps, Szwed will also be getting ready to start her college career at West Virginia University, where she will follow in the footsteps of a pair of graduating Oakville residents, Amanda Cicchini and Deana Everrett.