Jenavee Peres plays catcher and utility for UCLA. An All-American at San Diego State, Peres transferred to UCLA after taking 18 months off from softball to give birth to her son, Levi. Below, she discusses being a new mother while smashing home runs for the No. 1 team in the country.

#MOMBOMB WINS IT!!!!

Peres to left-center, her fourth of the season.

No. 1 UCLA 3, Wisconsin 1 (8 innings).

Courtesy @FloSoftball | https://t.co/lWeqpZ0tIx#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/mIXR0Fi7Er

— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) February 23, 2020

Tell us a little about your son. I’ve seen pictures, and he’s absolutely adorable. 

My son’s name is Levi and he is 19 months old. He’s just starting to talk. He said his first two-syllable word a week or two ago when he was watching one of our games while I was in Florida. He was with my mom and my family, and I guess the announcers were talking about me on TV as I went up to bat, and they said “she looks so happy,” so Levi said “happy.”

That’s amazing. Ok, I wanted to start out by asking you a little bit about your career at San Diego State, where you both broke a lot of records and were an All-American. What stands out about your time there? 

I feel like it was just kind of like any regular experience in college. I made a lot of friends and connections, and was just trying to enjoy each day because I knew that eventually it would come to an end like all athletic careers do. Of course, I didn’t expect it to end the way it initially did, but I’ve come to terms with that. I loved my teammates, and we still keep in touch. My coaches were just amazing, especially after I told them I was pregnant. They tried everything to see if I could come back for my fifth year before we ended up deciding that it was just a little too far away from home. But it was really cool to be a part of the foundation there and help build the program up. Even though we only made it to regionals once, I feel like that program is on its way to competing in the College World Series. Unfortunately, I won’t be a part of that, but I’ll always know that I helped lay the foundation. They’re still an up and coming team, and I don’t think anybody should sleep on them.

What were your initial thoughts when you found out you were pregnant? 

Initially I was just terrified. It took my boyfriend and I completely by surprise. I had gotten pretty sick but I just thought it was stress. And then I went to the doctors one day because it just felt like I was on my deathbed, I felt terrible. They had me do a urine test and they took some blood samples. And then they came back and said, “you’re pregnant.” This was in 2017, when I was a senior at SDSU. I was three months pregnant when I found out, which I just couldn’t believe.

You finished school and graduated while you were still pregnant. After Levi was born, when did you start thinking about returning to school and playing softball? 

While I was still pregnant I was actually thinking about going to Long beach State for grad school and then playing my last year there just because it was a lot closer to home in LA. It’s maybe a 20 minute drive from my house, which I knew would make raising Levi a lot easier. But eventually I decided, you know what, I just don’t think I can fully dedicate myself to being both a softball player and a grad student and a mom. Just being a mom felt overwhelming at the time, so I talked to the Long Beach coach and said, thank you so much for the offer, but I don’t think I can do this, which she totally understood. And at that point, I just kind of just came to terms with feeling like that part of my life was over. I was ready to just focus on being a mom. I’d come to terms with the fact that my transition to adulthood had been a lot quicker than most other student athletes.

What changed between that time and when you got the call from UCLA? 

Well, I got my first adult job, which I actually still work when I have a few hours to spare. My boss is totally accepting of my schedule and is really inspired by my story. I’m a security dispatcher at the Irvine Spectrum. And before UCLA reached out, I had just gotten into my routine. I felt like I was really living my big girl life. I was like, it’s time to step away from softball and just get my career set up. I was still giving lessons at the time, so softball was fresh in my mind. I hadn’t given it up entirely, but it was definitely just a hobby at that point.

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So then you got the call from UCLA to join the team. How did that happen, and what was your reaction? 

I remember seeing a call from a random number, and I usually don’t answer random numbers, but for some reason I just felt like I should answer this call. And then she’s like, hi, it’s Lisa Fernandez. And my heart just about fell out of my rear end. It was insane.

So you recognized the name right away?

Every softball player knows the name. I definitely fangirled for a second, and then I was like, wow, she’s calling me — wait, why is Lisa Fernandez calling me? And she’s just like, here’s the low down. We need a catcher and someone who can hit… are you interested? Initially, I was just like, how the heck am I going to make this work? First, I had to get into the school. Then I would have to figure out babysitting and commuting. There were so many things that had to fall into place, and fortunately they did. I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing if it wasn’t for my support system at home, my family, my boyfriend, my boyfriend’s family. I’m beyond grateful for all of them.

 

How have your teammates and coaches at UCLA supported you through the entire process? 

They’ve just supported me in every single way they can. Our program’s mantra is family, school, softball. As far as priority wise, my teammates and coaches just constantly remind me that if there’s something that I need to do with Levi or just something that’s going on at home that I need to focus on, then I am more than welcome to handle it because my family is my main priority. And my teammates just always ask me like, Hey, how are you doing? They’re constantly checking in on me, making sure I’m okay, because they are very aware that I have a lot on my plate. They also just love Levi, but he’s very picky with who he likes to talk to. My teammates are funny, they all still try to get on his good side.

What did it mean to have your son in the stands during your first home series? 

It was just surreal. I remember going to the bookstore to buy him UCLA gear beforehand thinking that he would need to look pretty fly, because we were for sure going to be taking a lot of pictures that day. It meant way more than the world to me to have him there for my first home game as a Bruin, seeing him wave at me from right above the dugout. I know he’s too young to remember it when he’s older, but that’s a memory that will be in my brain for the rest of my life. I can’t describe how full it made my heart feel. He kept waving at me, and even started crying because he wanted to come see me out in the field.

We’ve now seen a few amazing athletes, like yourself, like Serena, return to their sport after giving birth. There’s a stigma surrounding new mothers as athletes, as people always wonder whether they’ll be able to return to form. How have you handled that, personally? 

There’s definitely a stigma around being an athlete and having a baby, and everything just going downhill from there. I think we need to break that stigma and show that having a baby is not the end of your life, your athletic career, or you as a person. I want to be an advocate to show other moms, or really anybody facing adversity, that if you change your mindset anything is possible. It’s definitely hard, and there are moments when being a mother and an athlete kicks your butt. But just being more confident has made me happier as a person at home. It gives me energy, which helps me take better care of myself. And ultimately, being the best version of myself makes me a better mother.

I know you’re still working as a dispatcher, but has this year given you any new ideas about your future? 

Honestly, I’m just trying to live in the moment now because I know what it feels like for a career to come to an end. It’s so rare for anybody to come out of retirement and play for the best team in the country with the best players, the best coaches, the best facilities, the best public school, the best everything. So I’m just trying to make sure that I appreciate every single minute of it because I know what it feels like to be without it.

Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, at a White House ceremony this afternoon. 

The Team USA standout is the most decorated women’s swimmer in the sport’s history. In addition to her seven Olympic golds, she’s also won a total of 21 gold medals at the World Championships, the most of any swimmer regardless of gender. 

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The esteemed award recognizes those who have "made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors," according to a White House press briefing. 

Ledecky is one of 19 medal recipients chosen by the Biden administration this year. She joins a class that spans the worlds of politics, sports, film, human rights, religion, and science. Her fellow 2024 awardees include Everything Everywhere All at Once actress Michelle Yeoh, pioneering Hispanic astronaut Dr. Ellen Ochoa, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, plus posthumous winners Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the US, and assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers. 

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe were among 2022’s class of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients. Biles and Rapinoe were the fifth and sixth women athletes to be given the honor, making Ledecky the seventh.

After an illustrious career for both club and country, Gotham FC and U.S. Women’s National Team defender Kelley O’Hara announced today via Kelley on the Street that she will be retiring from professional soccer at the end of this year, making the 2024 NWSL season her last.

"I have always said I would play under two conditions: that I still love playing soccer, and if my body would let me do it the way I wanted to," O’Hara told Just Women’s Sports in the lead-up to her retirement announcement. "I realized a while back that I was always going to love it, so it was the physical piece that was going to be the deciding factor."

The 35-year-old will retire as a two-time World Cup champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and at least a two-time NWSL champion, depending on where Gotham finishes this season. Her legacy as a player is hard to fully encapsulate, and will forever run through some of the biggest snapshots in USWNT and NWSL history. 

In 2012, O’Hara played every minute of the USWNT’s Olympic gold medal run, after having recently converted into a defender. Her soaring goal off the bench in the 2015 World Cup semifinal is the stuff of legend. And her return from lingering injury to play in every knockout match of the national team’s 2019 World Cup win cemented a storybook international career. 

It was O’Hara who scored the overtime goal in 2021 to earn the Washington Spirit their first-ever NWSL championship, and O’Hara who returned to help see Gotham earn a title in 2023 after years spent in the trenches with the club’s previous iteration, Sky Blue. Her 15-year career spanned two professional women’s soccer leagues in the U.S. (she earned her first professional title in 2010 with WPS’s FC Gold Pride), as well as sweeping changes to the sport both on and off the pitch.

On the field, O’Hara has always been known for a motor that never quits, making the right flank her domain in attacking possession and defensive transition. In recent years, she’s also been celebrated for a competitive fire that raises the level of her teammates, whether she’s in the starting XI or supporting from the bench.

But injuries take a toll, a reality not always seen by the fans watching from home. "I've never taken anything for granted, and I feel like I've never coasted either," O’Hara said of her late-career success in the NWSL despite battling injuries. "I've always been like, 'I gotta put my best foot forward every single day I step on this field' — which is honestly probably half the reason why I'm having to retire now as opposed to getting a couple more years out of it. I've just grinded hard."

Recently, O’Hara has been sidelined at Gotham with ankle and knee injuries, and the situation motivated her to really prioritize listening to her body. "To get injured and come back, and get injured and come back, and just keep doing it, it really takes a toll on you.

"People don't see the doubt that's associated with injury,” she continued. "As athletes we feel a certain way, we perform a certain way, our body feels a certain way, we're very in tune with our bodies. And there's always so much doubt surrounding injury. It’s like, 'Can I feel the way I felt before?' The reality is sometimes you don't."

O’Hara didn’t arrive at the decision to move on from her playing career lightly. But once she began seriously considering making 2024 her final year during the last NWSL offseason, it felt right. "Once I was like, 'Alright, you know what, this will be my last year,' I have had a lot of peace with it," she said. "Truly the only thing I felt was gratitude for everything that my career has been, all the things I've been able to do and the people I've been able to do it with."

She said she’ll miss daily interactions with her teammates and all the amazing memories they’ve created, though she feels lucky to have formed relationships that go beyond sharing a locker room. "You're basically getting to hang out and just shoot the shit with your best friends every day," she reflected. "Which is so unheard of, and I just feel very lucky to do it for so long."

The Stanford graduate also mentioned that the NWSL’s suspension of regular season play in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic made her realize how much playing allowed her the space to simply be creative every day. The tactical elements of soccer provided O’Hara an outlet for problem solving and made use of her naturally competitive edge.

She’s now gearing up to channel her on-field intensity into her post-playing career full time, which is a new chapter she’s excited to begin. "I don't know if the world's ready for it, like the fact that I'm not going to be putting all of my energy into football all the time," she said with a laugh. 

O’Hara said she would like to stay connected to the game in some fashion, whether it be as an owner, coach, or member of a front office. She’s also interested in the growing media space surrounding women’s sports, having provided on-camera analysis for broadcasters like CBS Sports in addition to starting a production company with her fiancée.

"I just feel like I have a lot of passions, and things that excite me," she says. "And I do want to stay as close as I can to the game, because I feel a responsibility — and I'm not sure in what capacity — to continue to grow it."

A sense of responsibility to grow the game has been a consistent refrain for the USWNT and NWSL players of O’Hara’s era, who ushered in a new age of equal pay for the national team and collectively bargained protections for those in the league. The landscape for new players looks different than it did 14 years ago, in large part due to this pivotal generation.

"I feel an immense sense of pride around that, because I don't know if any of us knew that was gonna happen," she said. "We kind of, as things unfolded, took the next step towards changing what women's football looks like in this country and around the world.

"I'm really grateful to have been part of this era with the players that I was [with], not backing down and pushing and knowing that was the right thing to do."

Whatever the future holds, O’Hara is going ahead full throttle. It’s a piece of advice she’d also give to the next generation of professionals looking to make their own impact.

"Whatever you do in life, do it because you love it, and the chips will fall in place," she said. "If you love something, you're willing to do what it takes. You're willing to make the sacrifices, you're willing to handle the roller coaster.

"To me, it's simple. Don't do it for any other reason but that, and I think you'll be alright."

The Phoenix Mercury center spoke with Robin Roberts about her 10-month incarceration, reflecting on her poor living conditions and shaky mental state ahead of her May 7th memoir.

"The mattress had a huge blood stain on it. I had no soap, no toilet paper," Griner told the ABC News anchor in last night’s 20/20 special. "That was the moment where I just felt less than a human." 

She also detailed some of her lowest moments during that time, saying with tears in her eyes that she went so far as to consider taking her own life on more than one occasion. However, the thought of Russian officials not releasing her body back to her family made her reconsider.

"I just didn't think I could get through what I needed to get through," said Griner.

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In February 2022, Griner was arrested and charged with drug possession and smuggling by a Russian court after Sheremetyevo International Airport police found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. The cartridges were prescribed by Griner’s doctor for chronic pain back in Arizona, where medical marijuana is legal. In the interview, the two-time Olympic gold medalist said she had a "mental lapse" while packing, and never intended to bring the cannabis products with her when she returned to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg.

"It's just so easy to have a mental lapse," Griner said. "Granted, my mental lapse was on a more grand scale. But it doesn't take away from how that can happen." 

She was later sentenced to nine years behind bars after her Russian attorneys advised her to plead guilty the following July. Griner was then sent to a remote penal colony where she was forced to spend her days cutting cloth to make military uniforms. From there, it only got worse.

"Honestly, it just had to happen," she said when asked about her decision to cut off her signature long locks. "We had spiders above my bed making nests.

"My dreads started to freeze," she added. "They would just stay wet and cold and I was getting sick. You've gotta do what you've gotta do to survive."

Shortly after Griner’s initial arrest, the U.S. State Department classified her case as wrongfully detained, escalating its urgency within the government and calling even more attention to the situation. On December 8th, she was freed in a prisoner exchange negotiated by the Biden administration.

While she told Roberts she was "thrilled" when she got the news, she was also very upset about having to leave fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whelan behind. She also continues to carry guilt about her arrest, saying "At the end of the day, it's my fault. And I let everybody down."

Griner’s memoir, Coming Home, hits shelves on May 7th.

"Coming Home begins in a land where my roots developed and is the diary of my heartaches and regrets," Griner told ABC News in an exclusive statement. "But, ultimately, the book is also a story of how my family, my faith, and the support of millions who rallied for my rescue helped me endure a nightmare."

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.