The voice on the other end of the line is somewhat hoarse just at the tail end of a cold. The voice sounds weary.

It’s exactly as it should sound, the voice belonging to a young woman who has gone through an emotional and physical maelstrom attempting to make a dream come true under circumstances that would cause no end of anxiety for most 17-year-olds.

But the weariness is the only thing that has changed with Jessie Fleming since she began her extraordinary soccer adventure so long ago.

Oh, and one other thing has changed. She is, officially, a member of Canada’s team that will play in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015.Fleming was named to the team last week, one of the youngest players to be named to a Cup team for Canada.

When you consider the quality of women’s soccer in this country and the success the women have had internationally, the battle to make the roster is as intense as making any men’s team in any nation.

Fleming’s skill got her noticed and selected. Her determination allowed her to survive.

Five months ago Fleming lived in London. Her soccer talents meant she did a lot of travelling and playing. In a two-year span she’d played multiple tournaments, including two FIFA World Cups at the U17 and U20 levels. She also was given the opportunity to play with the senior national team.

But Fleming would always wind up back home as her base.

But when January 2015 rolled around, Fleming left the comfort of home and ensconced in Vancouver, where she would toil for the next five months to train, seeking the ultimate goal of earning a spot on the World Cup roster.

It’s a goal every Canadian soccer player seeks. Fleming would compete against women who have been striving for that goal for years, women five, 10, 15 years older.

“The hard part people can’t get their head around; she’s the only one studying. She’s in the middle of high school courses,” her father John said. “No one else is studying. She’s training two times a day sometimes. You get a couple of off days but when they are done training, they are out downtown Vancouver shopping, chilling, watching a movie . . . she has to study and she’s tired.

“But she recognizes the opportunity that’s in front of her. She loves the game, loves the group so much it’s pretty easy to get motivated.”

It’s what completes the Fleming package. There are players with talent but not enough desire. There are players with desire but not enough talent. There are players with both but then they don’t have the strength to get where they want to go.

Fleming has it all.

In the end, it earned her the coveted Canada shirt.

“I was trying not to think too much about selection and just do what you can day-by-day,” Fleming said, home on a 10-day break. “Obviously it’s in the back of everyone’s mind but you can’t focus too much on it over two months when you have a game the next day or whatever you have to do.”

Fleming played well in international friendlies and tournaments scoring her first senior women’s goal against Scotland. While some might consider her age a disadvantage, when you couple it with her ability the national team staff recognized that the time to allow her to gain inimitable experience was at the World Cup.

While many experts believed inevitable she would make the roster, taking anything for granted in this sport is unhealthy.

It was a relief to see her announced to the Canada roster in Vancouver on Monday.

Fleming was told she’d made the team a few days before during individual coach/player meetings.

“I didn’t know how to react,” she said. “I was overwhelmed. I was happy and excited. I thought I’d been playing well and getting lots of time but there are so many talented players in that group you never know.”

Fleming’s talent has been lauded and analyzed. At one time head coach John Herdman said it was “off the charts.”

But the word ‘satisfied’ doesn’t appear to be in Fleming’s lexicon.

“Playing exhibition game against teams like France or Germany made me realize how good I want to be,” she said. “I want to get better everywhere in the game not just at one specific thing. Obviously there’s things I need to improve but I just really want to push to be that world class player over the years.”

Being a world class Canadian athlete brings its own kind of added pressure. It doesn’t take long to surf the internet about Fleming and you get the kind of headlines of hope that greet most Canadian stars.

“Is Fleming the next Christine Sinclair,” trumpeted one headline. Fleming has been tagged as the next great hope for women’s soccer.

“I try not to focus on articles like that. I don’t really read them,” Fleming said. “I don’t know if it’s any more pressure me. It’s exciting to have so many years to get better and grow. I guess I’m just looking to getting to that level of being the world class player I want to be.”

Fleming says having the time at home was important.

“She hasn’t changed much,” her dad John said. “Once she’s home for a couple of days, she’s the same kid goofing around in the back yard. She still gets excited about the same stuff.”

But he says from training and diet perspectives, Fleming doesn’t take any time off.

“Her eating habits are phenomenal,” he said. “A lot of the women are vegetarian or really health conscious . . . not that she wasn’t a healthy eater before but she has very, very good eating habits. That’s something that’s gone down a good path.”

So even though time at home is good she’s already “ready to go” for whatever comes next. What’s next is training in Los Angeles to start and then at high altitude in Mexico.

“She’s really become good friends with that group and can’t wait to get back with them,” John said. “There’s the initial shock and ‘wow’ moments back in Brazil (her first senior cap) and as you get together with them in camps. But after living with them and spending the last four months doing everything with them, I think she’s forgotten that she’s 17.”

No doubt being accepted into a situation with so many veteran players that have lived and played with each other for years has gone a long way in easing any misgivings Fleming had allowing her to concentrate on playing soccer.

“It’s turned into an older sister kind of relationship,” Fleming said. “I definitely formed more and more of a bond the more time I spent with them. We do team pot lucks (dinners) all the time. We’ll do little team events; go to breakfast together, go to movies together. We’re a really tight knit group.”

There is still a month before the World Cup begins. While Fleming is on the roster there is no certainty on how much she is going to play. It depends on numerous things including injuries and who is in form.

Fleming says she will do whatever needs to be done for Canada.

“Obviously I want to get on the field but whatever Canada needs from me I’m willing to be that teammate, that starter, that finisher,” Fleming said.

She is sure of one thing though, she’s not going to let this once in a lifetime opportunity pass her by “I’m not going to just let it slip by and say ‘I wish I had done this and done that. It’s a unique situation that I’m not going to come by again so I’m going to take advantage of what was put in front of me,” she said.

In a short lifetime that’s already been long on achievements and highlights, Fleming has one more to revere perhaps the best one yet.

“It was being handed the Canada jersey with my number and excepting the responsibility that comes with it,” she said. “It was . . . it was a big moment.”