38 Quotes by Jessica McDonald

It's exciting to play against old teammates, old friends.

There hasn't been any positive steps for moms in the NWSL. Now we're kind of getting our heads together, getting ideas together, and so now we can start somewhere as moms... Child care is not cheap. And if you look at our paychecks and you look at child care, there goes our paycheck. How are we going to eat?

I need to just give - everything that I do, every single day - my all. I just need to. Life is short. We have one life to live. And I need to be able to push for my kid.

That's what pushes me every day to want to be successful on the soccer field - being able to not only take care of my kid on a financial level and be stable but, most importantly, to inspire my child.

I need to keep my focus as an individual and keep supporting my team.

If anything as simple as child care was covered by the league or your organization, that would be life-changing for moms, especially when we're scraping pennies. Maybe we would have more moms in this league if something like that was there for us, but I feel like we're far from that.

Both of my parents were both multi-sport athletes. Their mindset was, be an athlete as long as possible, up until they became parents. And so they dropped their dreams for their children.

For me as a mom, not an allocated player, there have been some years that have been a difficult journey because NWSL doesn't really support mothers.

I haven't had any injuries since I've had my kid, so I think it's changed my body externally and internally. I don't know what it is, but I hadn't felt so great, body-wise, until I had my kid. I look more in shape, and I feel more in shape. And speaking from a confidence side, it's changed me in such a positive way.