To be honest with you, I never looked at soccer as a sacrifice.
After the '96 Olympics, we all started believing that this is bigger than we thought, and we were willing to do the work. We knew that it was up to us, the players, to make soccer successful.
Soccer has given me a place to express myself, fully and openly. To not be shy. To feel. To be crazy. To try things I might not try. To be honest in relationships. To make mistakes and realize that they're not life-shattering.
I think there are a lot of things that soccer does in the communities that transcend the soccer field.
I'm loving motherhood. It's way harder than soccer, but I love a challenge.
I think soccer is more respected now than it ever has been. You can see that in the numbers of young kids who are playing and the numbers of people who are coming to watch.
I was the kid who always liked to take the ball down to the school even in my free time, kick it against the wall, juggle it in the front yard and so it was kind of a perpetual state of playing soccer for me.
You're just trying to be yourself, and for me, playing soccer is being myself. One day, you're one person on a team. The next thing people are asking your opinion about things you're not an expert on. Because they recognize you, they think you must know something about something - which isn't necessarily the case.
Number one, it was a chance to thank my parents, because they passed away a couple of years ago. They gave me so much by giving me the opportunity to play soccer, and I wanted to share the story we had together.
My parents and my grandfather on my mom's side would travel the earth. They went to Australia and China, and they went to probably every soccer game I ever played.
I went to professional men's soccer games, the old North American soccer league at that time, and I used to be a ticket holder with my family and family friends. We would go every weekend and I thought it was great, but I just thought of it as recreation, as family fun.
I have a 16 year-old son, so I'm now a soccer mom. I stand on the sidelines and I hear the things parents are saying, so I want them to understand what it is their kids are feeling in any sports environment.
I was a part of Backyard Soccer, and I hear that I score a lot of goals in it.
I love soccer; I want to be on the field.
