An unprecedented WNBA season added a new chapter Wednesday as teams followed the NBA’s lead and chose to sit out their respective games. Thursday’s games were postponed as well in favor of a day of reflection before the league announced that games would resume Friday evening.

Here’s everything you might have missed from a historic week on and off the court.

 

DIANA TAURASI GOES OFF FOR 34 POINTS WHILE WEARING KOBE BRYANT’S JERSEY
SABRINA IONESCU REMEMBERS HER MENTOR AND FRIEND KOBE BRYANT ON MAMBA DAY (8/24)
A’JA WILSON CONTINUES HER MVP-CALIBER SEASON WITH 26/9/3 AGAINST DALLAS
WHILE FELLOW MVP FRONTRUNNER BREANNA STEWART DROPS 27/9/4
ROOKIE SATOU SABALLY GOES FOR CAREER-HIGH 28 AGAINST THE ACES
CANDACE PARKER PENS A POWERFUL PIECE ON THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY
MYSTICS PLAYERS WEAR “JACOB BLAKE” SHIRTS WITH SEVEN BULLET HOLES IN THE BACK
ELIZABETH WILLIAMS DELIVERS STATEMENT EXPLAINING PLAYERS’ DECISION NOT TO PLAY
COACHES, PLAYERS AND COMMISSIONER CATHY ENGELBERT HOLD CANDLELIGHT VIGIL WEDNESDAY NIGHT
HOLLY ROWE SITS DOWN WITH NNEKA OGWUMIKE, LAYSHIA CLARENDON, SUE BIRD, ELIZABETH WILLIAMS AND NATALIE ACHONWA FOR DAY OF REFLECTION
LEAGUE ANNOUNCES GAMES WILL RESUME FRIDAY NIGHT

Sophie Cunningham is a guard for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA. A University of Missouri alum, Cunningham was the highest former Tiger ever drafted into the WNBA when she was picked 13th by Phoenix in the 2019 draft. We caught up with Sophie to talk about life in the Wubble, playing alongside some of the game’s best, and what she’s looking forward to the rest of this season. 

[Editor’s note: this interview took place before Phoenix announced that Brittney Griner would be leaving the bubble for personal reasons.]

What are your thoughts on how the team has been playing so far?

We are a brand new team. The only two people who’ve been playing together for more than two years are Brittney Griner and Diana [Taurasi]. You have to kind of show us a little bit of grace considering no one’s really ever played together.

But when you have the big three – BG, Diana and Skylar Diggins-Smith joining the squad – those are three big time players, and Diana is the GOAT. As a team, we’re still trying to figure it out. When we’re on, we’re really freaking good, but when we’re a little bit off, we just have to stay together and stay as one. By the end of the season, I think that we’ll be able to gel and make a long run.

It’s your second year in the league, and you’re already starting games and making an impact on the team. How were you able to excel in what is often a difficult transition?

Well, thank you. I think for any rookie in any type of sport the first year is really just a learning experience. There’s so much change that you just have to embrace it and don’t be too hard on yourself and try to remain confident. I think everyone in the league was formerly a big time player, but now it’s time to adjust and own your role, whatever that might be. I’m starting for our team, but I probably only average about four points a game. I know my role. My role is to bring the energy, bring the intensity, hype up my teammates and do the dirty work. Get on the floor for balls, get rebounds and make good passes into BG. When the opportunity is given, when it’s time for me to score, then I can do that too. But I think that when you’re new to the squad and you have three big players, the focus is to give them the ball when they need it.

What is it like playing with the GOAT, Diana Taurasi? 

It is awesome. Getting to know her, personally and as an athlete, I realized why she is the way she is and it just freaking kills me. I think she’s so funny. She’s so nice. But I’m also very thankful that I’m her teammate, because I would hate to play against her. She is just so ruthless and reckless, but I just freaking love it. I think it’s good for women. I think it’s good for our sport of basketball – she is who she is and she owns it. I just love it. I ask her so many questions. She gives me advice – I mean, you have to. She’s the GOAT.

There’s still a good chunk of games left in the season, but what needs to happen to get back on track?

Our offense is really good – we just have so many threats from top to bottom. So that’s really not our issue, but defense is something we can work on.

You obviously aren’t traveling this season, but you’re playing a ton of games. How has that been on your body and recovery in general?

Traveling sucks. I think when everyone’s little they’re like, “Oh yeah, you want to travel. You want to do all that.” But when you’re doing it for a living, you don’t really get to enjoy where you are. You go to the gym, to the hotel and back home. So it’s been nice not traveling. It’s not as tiresome.

But at the same time you’re playing so many games consecutively – I think that’s pretty hard on our veterans. For me as a young player with fresh legs, I enjoy it. You don’t play one good game, you have literally two days until you can prove yourself again. So I like it, but I do see how it can be pretty difficult if you’re one of the vets.

You had COVID twice before entering the bubble. Can you describe that experience?

Last year was my first year going overseas and playing. I played in Australia and when I got back around March 7th—you’re interacting with so many different types of people from different countries. And I think I got it traveling back. I lost my sense of smell, taste and had a headache for about a week, but that one wasn’t bad. But then this last time kind of got me, and I don’t know how I got it, because I was following all the rules, doing what I was supposed to just so if we had a season, I’d be able to come play. But that second time got me. I had a really bad headache, sore throat and even getting up to go to the bathroom, I was just so exhausted and out of breath. So that one sucked.

That’s terrible. How long did it last for?

All the bad symptoms only lasted for four or five days, but I can still feel the after effects from my sternum and my ribs—they just feel way different than they did before. It is what it is. It’s a new thing. Nobody really knows about it. And so it’s hard to kind of know what to believe. I’ve just tried to follow the protocols, staying away from people as much as possible because back home we have a family farm and we’re around our grandparents a lot. And so I just want to make sure that, if anything, that them and my parents are safe. I’m following protocols in the bubble and will keep following them after the season ends.

Before you all went to the bubble there was some skepticism around the situation. Now a few weeks in, it seems like living in the bubble has exceeded expectations. Are you concerned at all about bubble fatigue as the season goes on?

I think one huge positive is that you get to meet and spend time with players outside of the court. Last year, we were kind of missing on our team that chemistry off the court and it showed on the court.

Our team has hung out a lot – you have no one else to hang out with. You spend every day together. So it’s been really nice, just being able to relax and watch TV together or have dinner. As a whole, I think the bubble has just been really good. People are embracing it. It’s new, it’s different. It does suck that you can’t see your family and friends like you normally do, but it’s just one of those things that we have to embrace. And I think this season we’re playing for something much bigger than just basketball. And so it’s been real fun to come together.

How has it been playing without fans?

You don’t really notice it. At the end of the day, we’re elite athletes, it’s competitive, and you’re just so focused that you kind of forget that you don’t have fans. So I don’t really notice much of a difference, honestly. The only weird thing is doing free throws. It’s almost too quiet. You can literally hear everything. You can hear people talking.

You talked a little bit about your role on the team. How would you define that role this season?

It’s hard because you think you know your role, but it could change any given day. You just have to be really flexible and be able to adjust. What they need from me is I’m the one who brings the energy. I’m the one who communicates on both ends of the floor. I bring that fierce, competitive attitude to the court. And I know that’s what my team expects from me and that’s what I expect from myself. So that’s what I do.

And what are your expectations for the remainder of the season?

I would like to finish the regular season in the top three. I think we have the power to do it. We have the players and the mindset. So now we just have to go do it on the court.

Elizabeth Eddy is a midfielder currently playing for Vittsjö GIK in Sweden on loan from Sky Blue FC of the NWSL. She spoke with Just Women’s Sports about her experience in the Challenge Cup, arranging a loan to Sweden, and the differences between the two countries’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic.  

Before you were loaned to Vittsjö GIK in Sweden, you played with Sky Blue in the Challenge Cup. What was that experience like for you? How was living in the bubble and playing without fans? 

Our understanding as athletes is that the goal is to play the sport, and we are willing to do whatever is necessary. And with coronavirus and how governments handled things, how the world handled things, we were forced to play in a bubble. And so it was to some degree a glorified jail, but I would say they made it a very enjoyable jail.

We enjoyed it as much as you can. You’re always in a group, and it was very scheduled, to the point where it’s like, here’s your breakfast slot, here’s your training slot. You’re like, “Oh, I have no free choice ever,” which I personally do not like but I’m aware that that’s the choice. If you want to play in this world with coronavirus, you have to be okay with giving up some freedom. I’m aware of the cost, and I’m willing to pay it, but I also am not a big fan of it.

But like I said, all things considered our leaders did a fantastic job of making it as enjoyable as possible, as professional as possible. And they did a very, very good job, so it was really fun. We had a game room where it was ping pong all the time. We had snack rooms. I will say the one huge blessing out of the whole thing is that you end up getting really close to some of your teammates because you live on the same floor of a hotel for however long you’re in the bubble. So you get to become really good friends and spend a lot of time together and getting social. I think that was a really cool portion of it.

You arrived in Sweden a week ago to play on loan through the fall. During the loan process, what was the communication like from the league and how did the opportunity come about? 

Before the bubble tournament started, one of my prior teammates from when I was at home texted me and was like “Hey, Liz, would you want to play in Sweden potentially? We need somebody that can play the position that you play.” I was like, “Yeah, what’s the information?”

 So she sent me her coach’s contact information and that’s how I found one of the coaches who is Swedish. The cool thing about Sweden, which I didn’t know, is that every single person in Sweden speaks English and they start at around age seven. So I talked with the coach and he was great. He told me: “I care a lot about the character of our players. And because Sabrina, who’s already with this team, vouches for you, that carries a lot of weight because the culture of the team is really important,” which I thought was really cool, because when you’re on a team where the culture is very good, people respect each other and they love each other and they have a lot of fun together. It’s just a really healthy environment that gives your team much higher chance of success.

So it ended up working out. The loan agreement stuff from the NWSL side was, I would say, pretty difficult. And I think the big reason why was because they were in the middle of the Challenge Cup and trying to rush that. But I had reached out to our GM, and we have a good relationship. I think I messaged her for like a month, probably every single day asking her what the next step was and what I needed to do. I told her that I negotiated with the Sweden team to get the contract all set up. Like, “Here it is. What else do you need from me?” And honestly I was hoping and praying it would work out because I wanted to continue to play. And you only get better at something by being able to practice, constantly practice. I’m super thankful to be here.

How has everything been with the virus there? I am assuming it is very different from the US.

Not a lot of people are wearing masks here. It seems like everything’s fine. I know that the virus is real, but how they handle it, it’s been very healthy in the sense of not being paranoid and really out of control. And I think also just the size of the country, and how the rest of the world tries to go to America all the time, and so you see a lot of opportunities for people to bring the virus. I think in Sweden there’s just less people coming through. So I think that is how they are allowed to have the freedom to choose to handle this one. But most of the people I asked them, I was like, “How did you guys handle it?” They’re like, “Well, when the government says to do something, most people just do it.” They don’t complain. They’re just like, “Oh, we trust our government,” where I’d say that’s a difference with America, where it’s harder to trust the leadership.

Are there any protocols while playing?

Well they didn’t have any fans at games for a while and I think the week before I got here was the first time they’ve had fans, and they capped at 50. They had 50 fans in the stands, and they’re really cool supporters, just hyped about the game. The town I am in is 1,800 people, so everybody knows you when you walk around.

This was obviously a crazy year. Assuming next year is different, what are your soccer goals for 2021?

My goals moving forward are to become the best soccer player I can, and one day to play for the USWNT. That’d be my biggest goal, and that’s what I’m aiming for. That’s the big reason I come here to play in games and continue to develop as a player.

Caprice Dydasco is a defender for Sky Blue FC of the NWSL. In the lead-up to the Challenge Cup, she tore her ACL in training and had to miss the tournament. She recently sat down with Just Women’s Sports to talk about her injury, documenting her recovery on social media, and the success of the NWSL’s Challenge Cup.

Can you talk us through your recent ACL injury?

So this injury happened on June 1st. It was our second week back to training after quarantine and it was just a freak thing. The sprinklers went off at training, so we stopped working. When we continued, I went in for a tackle and my back foot slipped because it was a little slippery, and as I tried to recover, I just heard my knee buckle. It was my third one [ACL tear], so I heard the pop and I tried to be in denial for a little, but as I was walking off the field it just gave out. Right then I knew that I had torn my ACL again.

Luckily, I was able to get diagnosed quickly with a torn ACL and MCL and within two weeks I was able to get surgery. I then stayed in New Jersey and New York for two weeks before coming back home to Hawaii.

I’m now six weeks out of surgery and I’m feeling really good. My physical trainer here has been really happy with my progress, and throughout this recovery, I’ve been keeping in touch with the team and our staff. I’m making really good progress and my goal is to be back for 2021.

This unfortunately isn’t the first time you’ve torn your ACL, so when this happened again, you already knew what it was?

Yeah. Every athlete’s nightmare is hearing that sound and after hearing that pop twice before, I was like, “There’s no way this is ever going to happen to me again.” It’s really strange because every single time it has happened, I’ve felt the best I’ve ever felt physically – just super in shape, playing really well, playing the best I’ve ever played – and it’s always something you just cannot prepare for.

As soon as you hear that noise, you just know right away. You go into waves of denial, of like, “Oh, I didn’t tear my ACL. Maybe it’s just a hyperextension,” and then you go to walk and your knee gives out. Then the roller coaster of emotions hits you until you finally get your MRI back, and then you’re like, “Okay, at least I know for a fact that this is what it is.”

Do you approach this injury the same way as the previous two? 

So the first two, I tore just my ACL. This time around, I tore my ACL and MCL, so it was a little bit longer of a process to recover because it takes a longer time to heal. With just a torn ACL, you start doing rehab right after surgery, but for a torn MCL you have to be a little bit more tender with it.

Knowing this, as soon as I hurt my knee, I knew that I had to be strong going into surgery because that helps the recovery after surgery. I also knew that I had to start bending my knee right after surgery. So my slight experience in this field definitely helped some of those little things, plus knowing how to prepare mentally for surgery. For this third one, I’m like, “All right. It is what it is. Let’s just do it.”

2020 has been a pretty wild year. Has quarantine affected your recovery at all?

I would say it’s a little bit more normal now than when quarantine first started during preseason. I think back then it was harder because we needed to physically go out and train and be around the team and stuff, but rehab is a very individual thing, So I’m able to do that on my own and I’m very lucky that physical therapy is considered “essential” because it’s open and I have full access to it.

I have a really good relationship with my physical therapist and I’ve been seeing him since I was 12. So I’m able to go in every day and he’s able to give me everything that I need. I also got really lucky with surgery because at the time of my tear, the hospital had just reopened the week before. So they were able to fit me in in the middle of this pandemic and all of the testing going on.

What has a typical day in Hawaii been like? That doesn’t seem like the worst place to be stuck during all this.

Honestly, I would’ve rather been in Utah. But I’m lucky that my family and my parents are very supportive of me and they’re always here in Hawaii, so it’s really not a bad place to be for recovery.

Every morning I wake up, have breakfast, coffee, and then I’ll go to PT. I’ve also been trying to spend time with my grandparents and my family as much as I can while I’m here, so I’ll go to lunch with my grandparents. Typically, I go to the beach in the afternoons just for a little swim and then have dinner with my friends or my family. So it’s very chill when I’m home. There’s not much that’s open, but it’s been nice. Since quarantine, I’ve become a professional chiller.

We’ve seen a side of your recovery on the Instagram Account @ScarredTogether. Can you talk to us about this organization and what it’s like to go through the injury process with 4 other NWSL athletes?

So, Jordan Angeli is the founder of The ACL Club, and I’ve known her for a few years. She’s always been super supportive and as soon as I tore my ACL again, my agent and I jumped on a call with her to discuss documenting my recovery while using my platform on the ACL Club’s account.

So that’s how it all started. I was the first one to tear my ACL, but as soon as the tournament started, unfortunately, there was one tear after another, after another. When you tear your ACL, you just have this weird bond with each other because you’re going through the same issues and you all have this scar to show for it. When you’re an athlete, you just put so much work in, and then when it happens, it’s so devastating.

Jordan and I talked about how amazing it is for athletes to bond together during these circumstances and we wanted to show other people what we’re going through. This platform allows us to collaborate with so many other people going through all kinds of injuries and I think it’s really cool to see that we all go through the same struggles, same downs, and same ups. Hopefully, we can help each other out through this whole process and go tackle obstacles together. Eventually, I would love to organize something where we have Instagram Lives and have people ask questions about anything – physically or mentally. I want to use this platform as an open and safe space for people to be vulnerable and share their thoughts.

Shifting gears to NWSL Challenge Cup, what was the team’s mindset going into that? 

At the beginning of quarantine, we were all just training on our own at home and it was hard because we thought this was going to be a week or a month-long thing. We’d get workouts weekly and the staff would say like, “Okay, maybe another month of this.”

It was hard to stay motivated during this whole process, leading up to July, but eventually, we heard from the league about this potential month-long tournament. That’s when the buzz started to go around and there were plenty of mixed emotions. We’re in the middle of a pandemic and they’re asking us to go somewhere remote for a month and we had no idea what the health risks were and no clue where we were going to live.

Even with these mixed emotions, I think our staff did a great job in relaying all the information needed to make sure we felt prepared and comfortable way before anyone was to step foot in Utah.

What were your thoughts on how the league handled this return?

Lisa Baird, our commissioner, did an amazing job of making sure that all the players were involved in the decision making. They ran a bunch of surveys and league calls to make sure that everyone felt comfortable and all of our questions were answered before heading there.

So it was a really good combination of everyone’s input of what needed to be done for everyone to feel safe. And once the girls got there, they told me that the bubble felt really safe and secure.

It takes the whole league’s effort to make something like this work. Everyone involved was fully invested in following all of the rules, and I think that’s why it worked out so well.

How do you think your club, Sky Blue FC, fared throughout it all?

I was just so bummed the way it ended. I felt like if they had just five more minutes, they would’ve tied it up. But it’s encouraging and awesome that we feel this way – that we’re very disappointed in not making it to the finals. We just know the potential of this team and where we can go and it’s going to be exciting for everyone to come back, be hungry again and bring that same attitude and that feeling from losing into next season.

Looking ahead, what are some of your goals as you prepare for your 7th NWSL Season in 2021?

At the beginning of this season, I finally got a hold of the league and my style of play. I just felt really good. This year, I know my body’s a little older, so I just want to listen to it and take this recovery day-by-day. I know I don’t have to rush because time is on my side, but I would love to just work on just feeling strong.

And then once I’m ready to start playing again, I just really want to focus on working from the ground up. This isn’t a make-or-break year for me, but I’d rather not have people consistently bring up that I tore my ACL last year. I would want them to focus instead on how hard I worked this offseason.

Ultimately, I’m really stoked to just be around the team and get going again.

Claudia Longo is a redshirt sophomore at the University of Washington where she plays midfield for the women’s soccer team. Originally from Issaquah, Washington, Longo won two state championships with her high school team before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during her senior year. Below, she talks with JWS about her career in soccer thus far, her diagnosis, and how she continues to persevere through adversity. 

Since you are from the area, was University of Washington always where you knew you wanted to go to school?

Yeah, I mean, I grew up a U-Dub [UW] fan — it was everywhere in the neighborhood and U-Dub is literally in my backyard. So it was pretty cool to receive that offer. But in the beginning, I was looking to go explore other parts of the country. I was definitely looking to “get out,” but once I visited the campus, took the tour, and met the coaches and players, I was like, “Okay, this is it. This is where I want to be.”

Your high school was pretty competitive, too. I read that you guys won the state championship. How was that? 

It was, and still is, a great program and it has been pretty successful for years now. Tom Bunnell was our head coach — he is actually retired now but he was great. He won five state championships while he was there. And then actually, when I was there, we won two state championships. It could have been three, I still regret it, but that’s all right. But yeah, it was really fun to play for that squad, too. I actually ended up playing at U-Dub with some of my ex-squad teammates, which was super fun.

When did you start noticing your MS symptoms? 

I first started getting symptoms a couple of years prior to my senior year of high school, but I had no idea what was going on. During my junior year, I went completely numb and had tingling in my legs for a few weeks. I just thought, “Okay, maybe I’m over-training or whatever.” I remember it was mid-game. And I was like, “Okay, my cleats must be too small.” I literally went out, changed my cleats, wore somebody else’s bigger cleats, came back on and it wasn’t helping. My mom took me in to get some blood tests done. Nothing came back. So we were like, “Okay, let’s take a couple weeks off and see what happens.”

I ended up getting a bit better over the course of several months and I was even able to play my senior year. I felt good, but I was getting super tired after my games. I was used to playing the full 90 minutes, but it felt so different. I was throwing up after games, it was just weird. After we won the state championship, I took a couple of weeks off, but then I started training before and after school. I did that for a couple of months and then I started experiencing way more fatigue, a lot of numbness and tingling. I had this thing where when I looked down, I would get electric shocks running from my back to my legs. That was the sign to my parents that, “Okay. Something’s not right here.” We went and saw a neurologist and he ordered several MRIs. That’s when we found out that I had MS. I was diagnosed in March of my senior year. That was a month and a half before I was to graduate and move to U-Dub.

Were you able to finish out your senior spring of soccer or were symptoms too bad at that point to continue? 

Yeah, I was able to finish it out. I remember in the quarterfinal game, I just laid down on the bench for all of halftime and thought, “What is happening?” But I was able to kind of regather myself when that would happen. It mostly happened in the postseason so, obviously, there was a lot of adrenaline and other things playing into it. I was able to grind it out then, but a few months later it was to a point where I just couldn’t keep pushing through.

Once you were diagnosed, did the doctors tell you that you wouldn’t be able to play sports at all?

It was obviously a shock to the system. I really had no idea what was coming, but I was under the care of a great doctor. She told me it as it was, she said, “Yeah, you have MS. You have these symptoms.” But she was confident that I would be able to get back on the field one day. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be easy, but she said that we could make it happen. So that was really reassuring to hear.

Did you have a lot of appointments thereafter? 

Yeah, and I take medication. There is no cure for MS though. You take these medications to stop the progression, basically to stop getting these new lesions in your brain and your spine. Ultimately the goal is that, yes, I’m going to have these symptoms, but let’s prevent any other symptoms in the future from flaring up. So far, I’ve been stable. I’m on great medications that allow me to continue playing soccer, which is awesome.

You were diagnosed your senior year of high school and then you head off to college. What was going through your mind at that point?

I’ll be the first to say it was definitely tough. My initial response was to go on the most aggressive treatment and keep training and doing what I was used to. That was tough. I was doing infusions once a month that made me feel pretty sick. I was throwing up nearly every day and getting pretty bad migraines. But I was still training and pushing through because I wanted to move in for preseason and be on the field. Ultimately, I did move in for my freshman season and I tried to play a couple of weeks of the preseason, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t what my body needed. And so, after pushing through for about six months, I ended up taking a quarter off, moving back home and just taking care of my body.

Taking a quarter off to focus on your health must have been tough. How did you persevere during that time?

My coaches and my teammates were so incredible through all of it. When I first got diagnosed, I reached out to my coach, Lesle Gallimore. She got all of our staff together for a meeting and went over what it was going to look like for me and just made it clear that she was going to do whatever it took to keep me on the team. My teammates all rallied around me, too. So, it’s been really nice to have such a supportive team to help get me through it.

Did you take time off from classes too, or just training?

I actually ended up taking fall quarter completely off from school and soccer. I moved back home and took some time to really process what this new normal was going to look like. I changed my medication to something that was a little less aggressive and that ended up working out really well. I changed my diet. I found new forms of exercise that made me feel good and not like I had to throw up every second. It was tough to not be with the team and not be in college for my freshman year, but it was definitely a blessing in disguise.

When did you return back to school?

I went back for winter quarter, but I only went back for school. I wasn’t ready to play soccer yet. During spring quarter, I slowly started to add soccer back into the mix while I was practicing with the team. I practiced maybe two or three times a week and slowly worked my way back into what I was used to. Lesle coached us through that spring and then also last fall. This past winter is when our new coach, Nicole Van Dyke, came in and took over.

When you did return to soccer, how did it feel?

I still remember to this day, the first time that I trained by myself right before I went back spring quarter to start training with the team. I didn’t care about anything else. I was just so happy to be on the field and to be touching the ball and to have my cleats back on. That was a moment that I had been waiting for for over a year and it just felt so good. At my first practice with the team, I was just stoked to be there. I remember looking at my coach, Amy Griffin, and I just started tearing up. I had no idea what the next several months or years were going to look like, but I was so happy to finally be back with the team. Again, it wasn’t easy. I had a lot of adjusting to do and I was still not feeling great. I was off of the old medication, but I still had some MS symptoms that were getting in the way. It was tough, spring quarter was really tough. I had to learn to adapt to what the new normal was on the field, if that makes sense.

How do you think your experiences overcoming adversity at such a young age affected the athlete and person you are today?

It has really made me appreciate the sport. I’m standing here talking about my experience being a soccer player with MS. There are plenty of people out there with MS who aren’t as fortunate as me. I think each day is a blessing that I get to continue saying that I’m playing the sport. The adversity has really put, not even the sport, but life in perspective for me.

What are your personal goals both in soccer and outside of soccer?

Last year, I was able to play in a couple of games, which was super cool. I’ve had multiple conversations about this with my coaches. They know that I hold myself to almost too high of a standard, but I would definitely love to get back out on the field, see some more playing time and have a bigger impact on my team — both on and off the field, whatever form that looks like.

How would you describe yourself as a player?

I play midfield, so a big part of my game is vision. I like to see myself as a link player. And so one thing that was tough when I came back was I would get these balls in the midfield, but if I turned my shoulder too much or if my body got overheated, I started to have blurry vision and I would get dizzy. That was really tough because I felt like when the ball was at my feet, I had lost that innate vision that I felt like I had played with for so long. Now, I’m working on ways to play smarter. That doesn’t mean that I’m going out on the field and working on checking over my shoulder for an hour — that’s not going to help me. Maybe it’s watching more film instead, so that I’m relearning that vision without having to make my symptoms worse, if that makes sense. My new coach, Nicole, doesn’t treat me like I’m a kid with MS. She holds me to the same standards that she holds everyone else. And if I make a bad pass, she’s on me. She’s not going to ease off because I couldn’t check my shoulder. My coaches keep on pushing me and I think that’s huge.

Mo’ne Davis is a college softball player at Hampton University entering her sophomore year. Before transitioning to softball, Davis was a Little League baseball pitcher where, at the age of 13, she became the first girl to earn a win and pitch a shutout in Little League World Series history. Below, Davis details her transition to softball, her first year in college and the importance of supporting HBCUs. 

You are going to be a sophomore at Hampton this year. Have you started classes yet?

Yeah, I started classes on Monday. We’re all online and at home for the fall. I miss the girls on the team and just hanging out with them and the coaches. But it’s important for us to stay safe and make sure everyone shelters now, so that we can hopefully come back in the spring and have a season.

You made your college debut this past February, and then the season was cancelled because of COVID-19. What have the last few months been like for you? 

We had our spring break at the end of February. Honestly, between spring break and when they wrapped up the season, I’d say that was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had playing softball. We were on campus by ourselves during spring break, so we all started to really connect with each other and have a lot of fun. Then the scene just ended out of nowhere. I was sad, but now we are all excited for next year. The good thing is we’re only losing one senior, so we get to keep the same team for the next two or three years. I had a great time for the short period that I had this past season, and I’m looking forward to getting started back up with the girls and just reconnecting with them.

What have you heard about your team’s plans moving forward in terms of either practicing together or preparing to play next spring? 

We haven’t really heard anything. Our coach is trying to figure out what we could possibly do. Right now, she’s saying to just work out and be in game shape by February. Personally, I’m working out, taking some ground balls, working on my fielding, working on my hitting, doing a lot of running to stay fit, doing some lifting. I’m trying to do as much as can with what I have. None of my teammates live close to me, but I have my friends from high school who played, so I go and work out with them. I’m just trying to make the best out of the situation, so when the time comes I’ll be ready to play.

Besides COVID, how would you describe your freshman year, both in terms of softball and school?

I would say I really enjoyed it. I thought I was going to struggle with classwork, but I didn’t at all. I had some good friends in my classes. The professors were really nice. A lot of girls on the team helped out to make sure all the freshmen were cool and staying on track. I had a lot of fun and I’m just excited to get back.

This Saturday is the anniversary of your famous Little League World Series shutout. When you look back at your Little League World Series run now, what stands out to you?

I think a lot of people would say my maturity, but for me, whenever I think about Little League, I think about what I did with the other players from around the world. My favorite memory that will always stick with me is when we played dodgeball in the rec room with basically every team there. We were all just being kids and we weren’t focusing on baseball — we were just getting to know each other and hanging out.

Other than that, I would say making memories with my teammates and making new friends was a great part of Little League. I still talk to a lot of the players from different teams. We always bring up memories when we’re all together and we just have good laughs. I don’t really remember too much about the on-field experience because I was just kind of locked in and zoned in.

How did your teammates welcome you when you first arrived on campus? Did anyone ask for your autograph?

Everyone was pretty chill. I met a lot of my teammates before we got started, so we were all super chill. As time goes on, you get to know each other and then everyone starts joking like, “Oh my God, can you sign this?” It’s all jokes once you really get to know each other, but they try to make it as normal as possible for me. Same goes for all of the students at school — they all make sure that I’m comfortable there and that I’m enjoying my college experience.

You were a pitcher in baseball and now you are an infielder in softball. Can you speak to that transition?

I first started playing softball and taking it seriously in 10th grade. The biggest transition for me was base running and learning the rules. In baseball you can take a lead, but in softball you can’t. And some of the base running rules, I wasn’t sure about. I mean, I’m still not really sure about them, I just kind of go along with it.

With playing second base, the hardest thing is making sure I know what I’m doing with the ball and that I get to my position in time. We worked a lot on it in the fall and the spring. It’s hard to work on it now because you don’t have enough people to try to build that team chemistry. I’m going to try and keep learning somehow, but those are really the hardest things for me. I picked up everything else pretty quickly. The fieldings are the same. I don’t pitch which is amazing because I don’t have to learn the pitching motion. It was probably one of the easiest transitions — it didn’t really challenge me that much.

I’ve seen videos of baseball players trying to hit a softball pitch and it is usually a lot harder for them than you would think. How is it for you? 

I tell a lot of my old baseball teammates, like, “It might seem that easy, but it’s really not.” But then I have some old teammates who actually know how difficult it is and they’re like, “Yeah. It’s really not that easy,” like “I give props to all the softball players hitting a ball that’s rising, because it looks like it’s going to be right over the plate and then ends up at your head. It’s not easy to hit.” I’m like, “Thank you. There are some respectful baseball players out there.”

You mentioned that you started playing softball around 10th grade. Did you transition to softball because of limited opportunities to play baseball at a higher level as a female? Or, was it because softball is something new and there are more opportunities to play in college? 

Well, I played middle school baseball in seventh and eighth grade and I made the varsity team. Then, in ninth grade, I played on the JV high school team and I didn’t get to pitch as much. I liked the coach as a person, but I didn’t like him as a coach. He didn’t really give me a chance to prove myself, to really show that I can hang with the guys. So, it wasn’t as fun. My friends tried to convince me to play softball in 10th grade because they were losing a shortstop. They said that a lot of good players were coming in just to try it out for the year. So, I would say my friends motivated me and persuaded me to hop on the softball train. We ended up winning the league two years in a row.

What went into your decision to play at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU)?

At the moment, I wasn’t really thinking about just going to a HBCU. I just wanted to be comfortable wherever I was. Since I decided to play softball so late, a lot of schools were already done with their 2019 recruits. Two HBCUs reached out and I visited both campuses. I did my research on both colleges, making sure they had my major, looking at the teams and the rosters, and how they did in previous years. I looked at how close each school was to home so that my parents could come visit, and I had a lot of family and friends in Virginia so that was one of the main reasons I chose to go to Hampton. Also, Hampton has a really good journalism school which is what I want to do in the future. All of the girls there were super nice, and the coaches were nice. The team focuses a lot on family and making sure every player is a part of the family. That was really important to me because, growing up, all of my teammates were basically family members to me.

Recently, we’ve seen several top basketball recruits either commit to HBCUs or say they’re planning to consider them. Why do you think it’s important for more Black athletes to consider HBCUs?

I think it’s important in the sense of just giving back to your people. I went to a predominantly white high school. Being one of the few black kids there, some people didn’t have the greatest experiences. I was fortunate that I didn’t have to go through those struggles, but I was always there for whoever had problems. I was always there to help them out and be a shoulder to lean on. Once I went to a HBCU, it was completely different. You are surrounded by people that you can relate to — everyone has different backgrounds, but you can always relate to the person. I think that’s pretty cool.

A lot of players overlook HBCUs because people don’t often get drafted from these schools. I think once basketball players and football players get on campus, they’ll be grateful for the experience and they’ll be able to help push HBCUs to gain more recognition. I know a lot of basketball players, like Chris Paul, are trying to push HBCUs forward. If these high-ranking high school recruits come up, it will really boost the attention HBCUs get. People will want to watch not just that one recruit, but the whole team play.

What else will it take to create a true HBCU movement?

A lot of basketball players are pushing HBCUs, but I think it will really come down to these top high school recruits choosing HBCUs. I mean, for example, you have Mikey Williams who is only a sophomore and he has tons of followers on Instagram and he kind of promotes HBCUs. I’ve had people DM me asking if he’s coming to my school and I don’t even know the kid personally. Just from him promoting HBCUs, other people get involved and start doing their research and looking at the schools. And it just keeps circulating. If high school recruits keep looking at HBCUs and promoting them, it helps boost HBCUs up and give them the attention that they need.

Another week of Wubble action is in the books. Here’s everything you need to know:

 

THE INTERNET SALUTES KIM PERROT, THE FIRST WNBA PLAYER TO HAVE HER JERSEY RETIRED, 21 YEARS AFTER HER DEATH
CANDACE DUPREE JOINS THE 6000 POINTS, 3000 REBOUNDS CLUB
ANGEL MCCOUGHTRY CONTINUES TO IMPRESS, MOVING INTO 13TH PLACE ALL TIME FOR POINTS
DIANA TAURASI. NEVER RETIRE.
MORE NBA LOVE FOR THE GOAT: DAME ROCKS THE DT THREADS
COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT MAKES HISTORY GOING 15, 15, 6
AND DISHES TO TEAMMATE AZURÁ STEVENS FOR THE WIN, 84-82 OVER THE ACES
TWICE-CUT ROOKIE STELLA JOHNSON GOES 6-9 FROM 3 TO HELP THE MYSTICS TOP THE DREAM
AND ESPN RELEASES THEIR RANKINGS OF THE TOP 25 PLAYERS IN THE WUBBLE. BREANNA STEWART, A’JA WILSON, AND DEWANNA BONNER LEAD THE LIST.

Malala Fund’s 2020 Game Changer series is championing 30 female athletes from around the world who are breaking barriers in both their sports and their communities.

Produced by Assembly, a digital publication and newsletter from Malala Fund, the Game Changer series highlights all the ways in which sports positively affect the lives of women and girls.

Representing 24 countries, the athletes profiled include Olympic and Paralympic stars as well as promising newcomers from across the sporting landscape. The breadth of experience and diversity of backgrounds provides a unique global snapshot of women in sports today.

Featured athletes range from Miki Matheson, a three-time Paralympic gold medalist, to Tanya Muzinda, a 15-year-old hoping to become the first female motocross champion from Africa. Readers have a chance to meet Atefa, the first girl in Afghanistan to land a kickflip, as well as hear from Tyasha Harris, the No. 7 pick in this year’s WNBA draft pick, about what it meant to her to play for Dawn Staley at South Carolina.

What unites the athletes in the series is their common commitment to using sports to push for critical social change within their own communities.

“The problems that our Game Changers are using their platforms to speak out against include lack of access to education, gender discrimination, racism, and negative perceptions of people with disabilities,” says Tess Thomas, Assembly’s editor.

“These are all issues that girls around the world face. So we wanted the young women who read Assembly to look at our Game Changers and see themselves and their lives reflected in these athletes’ stories and understand that they also have the potential to be leaders on the field and leaders in their communities.”

Many of the athletes highlighted are changing the history of both their sport and their country.

Pratima Sherpa was born and raised in the maintenance shed of a golf club where her parents still work in Nepal. Practicing during after hours on the course where she lived, Pratima is now her country’s top-ranked female golfer, and last year she made history as the first Nepali woman to compete on the LPGA Tour.

Lucía Montenegro is not simply one of the fastest wheelchair racers in the world. Her fight to become the first student with a disability accepted at her school changed the institutions enrollment policies, paving the way for further students with disabilities to enroll.

In an essay entitled “Levelling the playing field,” Malala Fund’s advocacy coordinator Laura Denham lays out the research showing the potential for sports to help girls thrive in school, at home and in their careers. When girls succeed on the field, they’re more likely to succeed in the classroom, and they are more likely to excel in traditionally male-dominated subjects like STEM. The annual wages of former athletes are also on average about 7% higher than those of non-athletes in the US, and a study by Ernst and Young found that 94% of business leaders played sports when they were younger.

Denham notes that despite the significant personal and social benefits of girls participation in sports, the world still has a long way to go until there’s equal participation across the genders.

“Practical and environmental factors — such as lack of facilities or transportation — often make it difficult for girls to participate in sports… Discriminatory gender norms also prevent girls from becoming athletes. In the U.K., 43% of girls surveyed said that fear of being judged about their appearance stopped them participating in sport and exercise.”

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TYASHA HARRIS (ICON SPORTSWIRE/GETTY IMAGES)

Through its athlete profiles, the Game Changers series illuminates the strong overlap between sports participation, academic achievement and leadership. For Thomas, this relationship between athletics and activism is anything but accidental.

“Sports is obviously a great way for girls to showcase their leadership abilities,” she says. “As you can see through the Game Changers series, they really extend that leadership off the field, and to the different issues that are affecting their communities.”

One such athlete is Uganda’s only competitive para-swimmer, 13-year-old Husnah Kukundakwe. Husnah says swimming has not only helped her develop confidence, it’s also given her a platform with which to speak up for girls’ education in Uganda, where many drop out of school at a young age due to poverty, early marriage, forced marriage, and pregnancy.

“When I realised that I actually motivate people,” Husnah told Assembly, “I wanted to keep doing it so that I can increase awareness about people with disabilities and girls going to school.”

The Game Changers series makes it clear that the benefits of investing in female athletes extend well beyond the field, as sports allow these young women to find both the confidence and the skillset needed to be leaders in the world.

“Malala Fund really believes that girls are not only the leaders of tomorrow,” says Thomas, “but the leaders of today, and their voices and their opinions need to be heard and need to be a part of the global conversation.”

The Malala Fund was co-founded by Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who first rose to prominence as an 11 year old by blogging about her experience under Taliban-rule in Pakistan. An international non-profit organization fighting for girls’ right to education, the Malala Fund launched Assembly in 2018 in order to create a platform for girls to tell their stories, share their ideas, and learn from one another.

You can meet all the athletes in the Game Changers series by clicking here.

The first No. 1 recruit to join Stanford women’s basketball since 2010, Haley Jones is a rising sophomore originally from Santa Cruz, California. This year, the 6’ 1 guard became the first Stanford freshman since 2001 to score in double figures in the first four conference games, before being sidelined with an injury after the season’s first 18 games. Prior to her injury in January’s game against Oregon State, Jones was named a Pac-12 Freshman of the Week three times. 

[Editor’s note: this interview took place before the Pac-12 announced it was postponing all sports, including basketball, to 2021]

What has your day-to-day looked like during the pandemic?

I ended my first season at Stanford with a knee injury, so I’ve been spending a lot of quarantine doing physical therapy and recovering from home. Basketball-wise, I’ve been able to do a little bit of on-court stuff, and I was busy with schoolwork, because I took on more units now that classes are online.

Any recommendations for good Netflix shows or fun hobbies?

Some other freshman teammates and I just discovered Netflix party. We watched season two of Dead to Me and we’ll be watching Dynasty now that it’s out. I’m trying to force my brother to watch Game of Thrones with me because that’s my favorite show ever.

As for hobbies, my mom is the greatest chef ever, so we’ve been putting all of her recipes ever into Evernote. Now I’m going to have all her recipes – I’ve been baking up a storm.

Going back a bit, how did you start playing basketball? 

My parents were varsity coaches at the local high school. I grew up being at practices, games, in the gym. Girls on the teams they coached were my role models. They would always want to babysit me, and I’d run around with them at the gym.

I played a bunch of different sports when I was younger. I did water polo, volleyball, soccer – I did everything. I started playing “real” basketball around third grade when I first played on a travel team. Most of my teammates were mostly in the fifth grade. People always ask me how I play guard when I’m so big –  it’s because I played above my age group when I first started playing basketball. Naturally, I was always the smallest on my team and had to play guard. Once I started playing for my actual age group, I became the biggest one but still had guard skills.

How else did playing above your age group impact the way you play?

Playing up always forced me to push myself. None of the girls that I ever played with ever took it easy on me just because I was younger, and that really helped build my competitive spirit. I’ve always wanted to be the type of kid that wanted to play against the best player, and playing up gave plenty of learning opportunities.

In high school you were rated as the No.1 player in the country – you’re the first No.1 prospect to sign with Stanford since Chiney Ogwumike. How did you decide to attend Stanford?

I first started getting recruited around the spring of seventh grade. By junior spring, I narrowed it down to around eleven schools. The summer between my junior and senior year, I narrowed my choices down to five schools: Notre Dame, Oregon, South Carolina, Stanford and UConn. I made five official visits and waited until the last possible day to decide to sign with Stanford.

I was the first female recruit to sign live on ESPN, which was so cool. They came  to my school with donuts with my face on it. I was like, “Oh, this is the real deal – this is my peak.”

My non-negotiable criteria when choosing a school included academics, future teammates and classmates. Everything from the coaches, to the opportunities I’d get at Stanford to the people I’d interact with on a day to day basis – it’s an experience I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else.

And my expectations were true for the most part. For example, my freshman roommate who I was randomly assigned to – she’s the GOAT. She has her own nonprofit organization. It’s so cool getting immersed into these different communities; At Stanford, the athletes don’t feel separated from the rest of the community. And my team is amazing. They are some of my best friends now – they’re basically family.

At Stanford, you started off with an incredibly strong first season. You were the first freshman to score in double figures in the first four conference games since 2001. What was it like to transition to college basketball?

Coming to college, everyone on your team was that player on their high school team. They were that player on the AAU team. Everyone on our team was recruited because they played at the same level as me. I was so excited to get to play with everyone, because I saw it as an opportunity to make me better. No matter who you’re guarding, it’s a challenge. You can take them – and they can take you – on every given play. I had to understand that I was going to have to be competitive to get play time. But this competition came from a place of wanting to lift each other up.

Another thing about playing at the collegiate level that was so different was the pace. Pace is a mental challenge that you have to keep at the front of your mind at all times.

You had to stop playing after the first 18 games due to a knee injury. How are you overcoming this setback?

That game against Oregon State feels just like yesterday. I went down, twisted my leg – I just remember I was trying to stand up and couldn’t put any weight on it.

I’ve never had an injury before where I had to sit out of the season for so long. At first, it just took me a bit to come to terms with why this happened. You know, why me? Why now? My teammates were there for me every step of the way. Even so, it was really hard not getting to travel with them. It was weird not being at practice all the time, because I’d be at doctor’s appointments and physical therapy.

Additionally, it was really hard changing physical therapists from Stanford to ones local to home because of the pandemic.

I don’t want to say getting injured was a good thing, because it’s not. But, I think that my injury opened up new experiences. I’ve never really been on the sidelines. I really got to understand our system from a different point of view by watching our team and our games. I really got to understand all my different teammates’ tendencies. Usually during drills, I’m just focused on myself. But now I know where my teammates like to be on the floor – I got to talk to Kiana and Lexie a lot just about different things that they’re seeing on the floor so that when I’m able to come back, I can help them carry those ideas out. I’m able to hit them at the places they want to be hit. I think when I come back, I’ll really be able to understand everyone better.

Have you been keeping in touch with your teammates since your season was cut short?

One afternoon, Coach Tara VanDerveer called us. All of us on the team got in our circle in our locker room with all our staff, and she told us it was the end for this season. Just understanding that was the last time that this special group of people were all going to be together was really hard to grasp. The moment we got out of that meeting we were all looking for flights back home. It was a really abrupt ending to the season and that special team we had.

But since returning home, we’ve had a lot of Zoom calls with the coaches, which are fun. As a team, we text and Snapchat all the time. We get on team Zoom calls without coaches just to hang out and chat. I’m FaceTiming with the freshmen every day. We send each other memes. We’re trying to start Netflix partying shows together.

Certainly there’s a lot of uncertainty today and it’s hard to make plans for the future. With this in mind, do you have goals for your collegiate career? Are any post-college plans on your radar yet?

For my collegiate career, I’m not really thinking long-term right now. I’m really just thinking about how I want to come back this year. I’m not trying to come back as the same player I was before my injury – I’m trying to be better than I was. Post-college, professional basketball has always been a dream, but you never know what’s going to happen.

Karina LeBlanc is a retired soccer goalkeeper who recorded 110 caps with the Canadian national team, playing in five World Cups and two Olympics. LeBlanc won a gold medal at the 2011 Pan Am Games and a bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is now the head of women’s football for the CONCACAF as well as a UNICEF ambassador, motivational speaker and TV commentator. Below, she spoke to JWS about a recent health scare, her life as a new mother, and the future of women’s football. 

You became a mother this past spring, but had to be separated from your daughter for over two-weeks due to a COVID-19 scare. Can you describe what happened for those who don’t know? 

So I was pregnant when the pandemic hit. And a week after giving birth to my daughter, Paris, I started experiencing weird things. And everybody always says like, “You swell up after,” but as an athlete, you know your body. We know when something is off. Even though I’d never given birth, I knew something was off.

And I remember watching Serena Williams talk about her story and how, because she knew her body, she had helped save her own life after giving birth. I told my husband, “Can you make sure you watch the Serena story? Because I just want to make sure.” I ended up having shortness of breath. I ended up calling the doctor, and she’s like, “Okay, well, we’ll just check in with a heart specialist, because that seems a little odd.” And as soon as I called that doctor they were basically like, “Listen, you need to go to the hospital right now, you do not have time to wait for an ambulance.” To be honest with you, as we were driving to the hospital, I thought, “This is it.” And I was trying to catch my breath. I said my goodbye speech to my husband and our little girl, she was squeezing my finger.

I was diagnosed with pleural effusion from heart failure. After three days in the ER, they were ready to release me. And so I thought that morning I was going to get out, I was like “Yes! Here we go!” It was like Christmas. I get to go home to my new baby girl. And next thing I know the doctor is on the phone telling me, “Listen, there’s been an outbreak. I can’t come to release you. There’s a doctor there who will release you, you’re going to get to go home but you can’t see your daughter, we suggest you self-quarantine for two weeks because we are not sure if you have the virus.” And I went from the highest high to the lowest low.

Had you ever experienced anything like those two weeks mentally, or was that a totally new challenge? 

So I go through the two weeks, and you learn a lot about yourself in those times. For me, I’ve always known the importance of mindset and perspective because that’s what you learn as an athlete. You have to have your mind right. And as a goalkeeper in soccer, the mind was one of the most dangerous or most powerful things. I checked in with my former teammates, we had a couple of Zoom calls. Just trying to get my head right. And if there’s anything I learned, it’s just how strong we are as women, as human beings. And in that time I think my greatest lesson was, obviously my faith, but also that we are stronger than we think, and we can get through this. And I had the light at the end of the tunnel with Paris, which was great.

You wrote a very candid and moving open letter to your daughter. Can you talk about the motivation behind that letter? Why did you feel like it was important to also share that with the world?

As an athlete and especially on a team sport, it’s almost like you’re used to having people around that are family, that are a community, you know? Obviously my husband was taking care of everything as I was self-quarantined, and all the kudos to him because here’s a first time father taking care of a newborn. But I felt, in some aspects, alone. And so I reached out to social media and I’m like, “I just want prayers and your thoughts.” And I remember my husband coming in the next morning, because, again, I had to keep my phone away from me because I had to keep my blood pressure down and you never know what triggers things. He’s like, “Listen, babe, your video has a lot of views. So I’m going to just tell you that. I know you’ve been wanting to look at it, but also be mindful that there are a lot of requests right now for you to speak.”

And the requests ranged from the media, to fans, to people asking me to help get the message out about the importance of staying home. And for me, I’ve always been connected to this idea of living my purpose and living my why. So there was that aspect. But then there was the George Floyd killing and the conversations on race. It was just so much, and it was like, “Where’s my voice in this?” I’m trying to figure it out. Because here I am Canadian, I’m Caribbean, I’m American. I’m a new mother. There’s just so many aspects going into this identity.

But the one thing I came back to was, “Listen, I want my daughter to know how amazing she is already. I want her to know our story so far, and let her understand the strength that she has.” Because, at three days old, she already made me a stronger and better version of myself. And for me it was just important to write it, but then also I wanted to share it because so many people helped me along the way to stay strong. And it’s interesting, after I wrote it, so many mothers and women reached out to me, it was incredible. I’m almost getting emotional thinking about it. Obviously a lot of former teammates reached out. A lot of people I played against. A lot of people in the sports world. But also just mothers who were either pregnant or mothers who had gone through it, or women talking about how it helped them to feel a strength within. And dads. All the reactions were beautiful. It was more than I thought. When I wrote it, I said to myself, “Okay, I’ll just put it out there.” I didn’t expect the reaction. But I mean, in this day and age, it’s so important for us to sit back and realize that what we have in front of us is gold, and not always focus on what we don’t have in front of us.

And how is your daughter doing now?

She brings so much joy to our lives. So she’s fantastic, she’s thriving.

I’m thrilled to hear that. Switching gears to soccer, you competed in 5 World Cups and 2 Olympic Games. Now that you’re retired, what are some of the moments you find yourself looking back on most frequently?

I think in my position now as head of women’s football, or soccer as we know it, at CONCACAF, it’s the power of the game and the impact it had on me. I was the shyest kid. Nobody ever believes this, because now you throw me in front of a thousand people, and I’m like, “What’s up!” But I was the shyest kid, you couldn’t get me to speak. And life changed when I kicked a ball.

Yes, I went on to win an Olympic medal and play in World Cups and do some incredible things, but now looking back at it, as an athlete, I was always asking myself, “What am I doing this for?” And when I was playing, it was to inspire that next generation, because as a young girl, I didn’t have any female athletes to look up to. That meant I never said no to an autograph or to a moment with a fan. That five seconds, to a young girl, could be a life-long, game-changing moment.

When I retired, it was, “Okay, now what? Who am I now?” I knew I always wanted to impact people for the better. And so with this position now, I’m able to be the head of women’s soccer in CONCACAF. That’s 41 countries. And while, in the US and Canada, the conversation surrounding women is how to achieve equality, when you travel to some of our other countries, it’s talking about the power of sport for this young girl. It’s showing how sport can help her become what she’s meant to be on this earth. Sport can give her a voice. Sport can give her purpose.

For me, it’s my truth. So it’s easy for me to talk about, “Let’s create more women who are stepping up and being bold and understanding who they are because of the game.” When I look back, it’s not necessarily the accolades that are the most important thing. It’s the fact that I found my voice, and now I want to use it to create more avenues so that sport can be a game changer for other young girls in this world.

You also played in the NWSL, which just became the first team sports league in America to safely return to play during COVID. How has that league grown since your time playing? 

I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Fox crew and do the broadcast of the World Cup last June in France. That was game changing for women’s soccer. After, we thought it was going to be like, “Oh, here we go, taking off.” But then the pandemic hit. I think what you’ve seen is amazing leadership in Lisa Baird, as well as the owners, in stepping up and being bold. I think anybody who ever played soccer was jumping for joy when the NWSL set the trend and was successful. The way that it did it was fantastic, because it showed commitment. And it’s a testament to everybody who was a part of it. So I’m really excited about the momentum we now have in the women’s game.

What does your job usually entail, and how has it changed given the ongoing pandemic? 

The CONCACAF is the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean countries. FIFA is the governing body for all of football, and then FIFA’s broken up into six confederations.

So we are 41 countries with 41 different realities, and my job is women’s football. It’s a new position, and I’m the first to fill it. Obviously, the priorities with women’s football are to help develop and grow it across all of our members’ associations. I retired after the World Cup in 2015, where there were sold out stands, and men and women wearing our jerseys. But when I started playing, there were like eight people in the stands, and five were my family. So I have firsthand seen the growth of the game, especially in the US and Canada. But then when you travel across the region, there’s still a lot of work to do to change public perception and start the conversation about how we grow participation. For us, there are three objectives: change perception, increase participation, and build sustainable foundations.

We also deliver programs to qualify for a World Cup or Olympics, where teams have to go through our tournaments. So there’s a competition side, but we’re also trying to empower young girls through the sport of football. After the pandemic began, I was on maternity leave, but we were able to develop and deliver online webinar learnings. And we were the only Confederation to do that. For us, it’s important to engage on the woman’s side. We figure out who is in charge of women’s football in a certain country and we connect with her, empower her and engage with her. With the World Cup being as big as it was last year, we have to continue to move forward. The time is now for women in sports.

What do you think will be some of the biggest storylines in women’s soccer over the next decade?

I think you’re going to keep seeing more breakthroughs. The game’s going to become better, deeper, stronger. You’re going to see sponsorships step in and help the game grow. And again, you’re going to see participation grow. Because I think people are starting to see A, the power of sports, and B, the game changing opportunities they provide to young girls.

Through my UNICEF days, I saw that if you empower a girl, you empower a community. And for me, I was able to go into some parts of the world where you drop a soccer ball and everything is solved. There are no political fights, there’s no religion. It’s just the young kids who want to play. And I think more and more people will see that there are all these things that try to separate us, but you can drop a ball and everybody comes together.

I’m a firm believer of what the game can do for a young girl and a firm believer of what the game can do for a community. And, for me, if I can play a role in any of that, it’s a big deal.

Is there anything else that you wanted to mention that I maybe didn’t bring up?

I just think that in these interesting times, I’m a firm believer that what we do, and the conversations we have, and what we push, and the actions we take are so important. As a new mother, especially talking with you guys, it’s so important to tell the stories of girls and women. The good, the bad and the ugly, but especially the stories that are inspiring. So I’m thankful to you for doing that. And I hope everyone who reads this article is able to find their purpose in growing the attention around women in sports and their purpose in making it better for the next generation.

I feel like it’s so perfect that you have a daughter!

You know what’s so funny? When we found out, I named her Paris because last summer’s World Cup was so powerful for us, and obviously that was where she was conceived. But every time I told people, they’re like, “Of course. You know what? God wouldn’t have it any other way.”