I really hate drama. It's draining; it's mentally draining. It's a waste of time.
It's always hard to deal with injuries mentally, but I like to think about it as a new beginning. I can't change what happened, so the focus needs to go toward healing and coming back stronger than before.
I don't do fake. That's the first thing you should know about me. I'm not one to put on airs or change my demeanor depending on where I am or who I am talking to.
If you have a dream, it's definitely achievable through hard work, through dedication, sacrifice, everything.
You don't want to get too wrapped up in that final destination. You want to enjoy the journey, enjoy the process, and just take it one step at a time.
I want to be strong. I want to be able to hit people. I want people to be able to bounce off me. When I go out there and play, I play to intimidate people. If someone gets hit down by me, they're going to think twice about coming near me again.
Basically my whole life revolves around soccer. I don't take many vacations. Everything just gets put on the back burner because of my training. I miss out on a lot of weddings and family functions. But at the end of the day, I'm sitting here as a world champion, and it feels pretty good.
Every time I step onto the field, whether people like it or not, I'm not trying to play dirty - I'm just playing tough.
It's those moments when everything is on the line, and someone needs to show up in a big moment. I prepare my mind and I prepare my body to be ready for those moments. And I think it's just what I do. I live for those moments.
I think - you know, I want to intimidate people when I'm on the field. I want people to be scared of me. That's just kind of the nature of who I am as a person and player. But I also know that you have to be emotional. You have to be in touch with your feelings. I think that's important.
I love shopping! It's my release sometimes.
I sleep better on the road than I do at home. I'm used to sleeping in a million different hotels. I'm not home very often, so when I get home, I have things I want to do.
I think that what we do out on the field is oftentimes a little bit better than what men do. I don't think that we flop around as much. I think we're tough. I mean, I've got battle wounds on my legs from the turf and sliding. And we're gritty. And we're feisty. And I think that I would never back down from a guy.
To be among the world's greatest athletes and compete for Team U.S.A. while knowing that the entire world is watching is something that athletes dream about. To be able to experience that was truly special.
Like many kids, I was thrown into recreational soccer in my town, and from there, I grew to love it. Everywhere I went, I carried a soccer ball with me.
Any professional athlete will tell you that the mind is everything. For me, there is no shame in saying that I visualize and I meditate, because it really works.
I have scored some big-time goals. I've done well in Algarve Cups. I've done well in World Cup and Olympic qualifiers, Olympics. In big games when we're playing top-five teams. But yet, you never see my face or my name out there. And it has frustrated me my entire career.
I've kept to myself, I've put my head down. I've gone to work. And I have felt undervalued.
When I first joined the team, I was playing with the likes of Mia Hamm, Shannon MacMillan, Tiffeny Milbrett - all those big-time players. It was very intimidating. I had some of these players' posters on my wall growing up, and now I was able to play with them.
My biggest benching was before the 2012 Olympics. It kind of came out of nowhere. I just kind of had one bad half, 45 minutes, and it pretty much cost me my starting spot.
