Christen Press is opening up about her journey as a professional athlete, calling it “painfully imperfect” in a recent reflection piece on re-inc.
The U.S. women’s national team star says her path to the top of her sport, though difficult at times, made her a better person.
“Could you imagine watching your teammate score a game winning goal to put you into a final and feeling…jealous?” Press writes. “I can. That’s scarcity. And as a young professional, my mood as well as my potential was ruled by this mindset.”
The forward adds that the mindset that plagued her early on in her career has changed over the years.
“While cultivating my competitive strengths where I saw others had weaknesses, I ended up developing skills that helped me balance out the group around me, keeping my teams collectively strong across skill sets,” she writes.
“I was inadvertently helping the team be better all along. And having the best team helped me become the best individual.”
Now, Press says she can comfortable celebrate others’ accomplishments as much as her own.
“Could you imagine watching your life partner work for years, finally get a promotion, and feeling the joy as if it were happening to you?” she writes. “I can. That’s abundance.”
Press, who will make her debut with NWSL expansion club Angel City FC in her hometown of Los Angeles next season, wants that mindset and joy to extend to the community and the world.
“I can imagine how much more love, joy, celebration, and success we’d all have if we did that with every person every single day,” she writes, calling it “abundance.”
“I believe that we are all infinitely intertwined.”