My parents and my grandfather on my mom’s side would travel the earth. They went to Australia and China, and they went to probably every soccer game I ever played.

Soccer has given me a place to express myself, fully and openly. To not be shy. To feel. To be crazy. To try things I might not try. To be honest in relationships. To make mistakes and realize that they’re not life-shattering.

And I remember how proud I was to put on my training jersey and go out on the field. Making it back to that environment was for me my greatest moment, because somebody had told me I couldn’t do it and I never gave up on myself, the game and my teammates.

So I’m still doing my best to stay in shape and hope that opportunity will come back to me.

I went to professional men’s soccer games, the old North American soccer league at that time, and I used to be a ticket holder with my family and family friends. We would go every weekend and I thought it was great, but I just thought of it as recreation, as family fun.

So along with that is spending a lot of time with the ball. For me it was, I loved to juggle the ball in my front yard, and I always challenged myself – how many juggles can I get today? I think for players to get better, it’s just about spending the time.

After the ’96 Olympics, we all started believing that this is bigger than we thought, and we were willing to do the work. We knew that it was up to us, the players, to make soccer successful.

I’m loving motherhood. It’s way harder than soccer, but I love a challenge.

Well there are two things: Number one is, make sure you always enjoy yourself, because when you enjoy yourself, you’ll learn, you’ll want more information, you’ll push yourself.

Women can be incredible role models for their kids, neighbors and communities just by making good choices in terms of what they’re eating and whether they’re exercising.