I believe it's our responsibility to show our communities the value of all people, to celebrate different, and to take a stand for acceptance and inclusion.
Sports build good habits, confidence, and discipline. They make players into community leaders and teach them how to strive for a goal, handle mistakes, and cherish growth opportunities.
Life doesn't just happen. You happen to life. You decide how you want to write your story.
If there is one certainty in soccer, it is this: The quickest road to becoming a winning soccer team is to have a great goalkeeper.
Do your homework. Find your voice. Be authentic. And then dive in with purpose.
Sports not only build better athletes but also better people.
The ebb and flow of daily life can lead to wonderful highs, crushing lows, and everything in between.
You don't need a title. You don't need a degree in business organization or be trained in the finer arts of persuasion. You just need to believe you can lead. So start there. Start believing.
Leadership is loud. It is quiet. It is thoughtful and emotional and cerebral and nerdy and goofy and joyful and motivating.
For too long, I equated leadership with a position. I thought leaders were presidents or politicians or celebrities or four-star generals with a horse and sword.
It is so easy to be pleasant and charming and positive when life is going swimmingly well. You are winning. You are healthy. You are happy. But what happens when life throws darts at you?
Once I was walking with teammate Joy Fawcett in a hotel in Haiti. We were barefoot, and the lights went out to save electricity. Joy felt something crunch beneath her feet, and she felt the need to shine her flashlight on the floor. It was, I swear, a five-foot cockroach.
I have non-breaking news for you: FIFA does not care what you think. Over the years, FIFA has never seemed influenced by what is written or said in papers, articles, tweets, blogs, and on television about how it operates.
If you don't think a small act can make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.
Having a love-hate relationship with road trips is inevitable.
Yes, Clay Matthews has a long, golden, Fabio-esque flowing mane that most women would chick-slap someone for. And yes, the shiny, beautiful, dark locks that cascade out of Troy Polamalu's helmet are the envy of volume-challenged women and bald men everywhere. But do we need to talk about it incessantly?
I remember the first time I played on a synthetic turf field. I thought, 'Wow, this is amazing. What is this stuff?' It seemed so much better than that concrete-like Astro Turf that was essentially just a green, thin carpet over hard ground.
In the end, we all seek one thing in life, regardless of gender: to be recognized for the hard work we have done and to leave our sport or business or entity in a better place than when we came in.
We women are great at underselling ourselves and not so great at owning our awesome.
I tried Zumba, but I laughed the entire time! I was so bad, it's embarrassing.
