Ashlyn Harris doesn’t miss soccer.
“Not a f–ing second,” Harris said when asked on the most recent episode of Snacks. “I don’t miss it for a second.”
The former U.S. women’s national team goalkeeper, who also became the first NWSL player to reach 500 saves, retired at the end of 2022 after 12 professional seasons. She made 25 appearances for the USWNT and is a two-time World Cup winner. But she is enjoying her retirement to the fullest.
“I am living my best life,” she told Snacks co-hosts Lynn Williams and Sam Mewis. “I don’t have schedules. I don’t have to (say), ‘Oh, I can’t, I have to be in bed by 9:30. I have training early.’
“I just live. If I need to fly home to Florida to see someone, I fly home to Florida to see someone. These days, they’re forever behind me.”
Harris is finally doing the things that she never had time to do, from dancing to grabbing cocktails with friends. She is also serving as the creative director for Gotham FC, the club for which she played her last NWSL season and for which her wife Ali Krieger still plays.
“The amount of pressure we live under, it’s just not sustainable forever,” she said. “Everyone has an opinion of, I mean the dumbest shit. … It’s just exhausting. And now it’s like, I don’t care what people think of me. I don’t have to worry about performing. I don’t have to worry.”
While she gets stressed watching the national team play – to the point that she’s “literally picking and peeling back every nail and cuticle I have on my body” – she isn’t going to miss being in the heat of the moment for the USWNT.
“Soccer was just kind of something I did. It’s not really who I am,” she said. “It’s always been about the people for me and the journey and the process and living life like extraordinary. So I’m excited for this opportunity for a lot of young people.”