Off the Ball is back and kicking Season 2 off with a bang.
Ali Riley sat down with Orlando Pride teammate Alex Morgan in her Florida home to get a behind-the-scenes look into life off the pitch as a new mother to daughter Charlie.
While Morgan always intended to return to soccer after giving birth, that doesn’t mean that getting back on the field was a seamless experience. The star forward joined the Tottenham Hotspurs for a short stint in November 2020, a remarkable six months after giving birth to baby Charlie.
“I think the hardest part was just not really having a set program,” Morgan says. “You know when you have an injury, you have a set this week you’re going to be running, and this week you’re going to be cutting and doing ball work — [returning after giving birth] wasn’t like that.”
Morgan says she had to listen to her own body day-to-day as she worked to return to the field in time for the Olympics.
“As far as the National Team and Orlando Pride, I feel like it was unchartered territory.”
Watch the full Off the Ball episode for more on Morgan’s return to the pitch. You can also listen to a bonus episode of the Just Women’s Sports podcast, where Morgan goes into detail about her time training while pregnant and after becoming a mom.