WEBVTT - ‘Eat, Gay, Love’ with Meghan Klingenberg 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:03.279 Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we finally 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.080 got to meet Ellie the Elephant. I showed her a 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:09.320 pick of my Halloween costume. I told her about my splits. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:12.560 She kissed me with her trunk. We're basically besties now. 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.360 Don't be surprised if there's a special guest dancer during 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:19.000 the first Ellie Stomp of the season. It's Thursday, April 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:20.920 twenty fourth, and on today's show will be joined by 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.000 World Cup and NWSL champion Megan Klingenberg for a thoughtful 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:28.680 conversation on identity, music and knowing when it's time to 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:32.400 move on. Plus two dreams are hatched with one shovel, 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.720 breaking NWSL records with diamonds and a reminder that all plants, 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.040 including citrus trees, need a little help to grow. 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:48.720 That's all coming up right after this. Welcome back, y'all. 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:49.960 Here's what you need to know today. 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.160 Instead of starting with a sport, we're going to start 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.680 with a place, Portland, Oregon, where earlier this week, ground 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.120 was broken on a new training facility that'll be shared 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.440 by the NWSL's Portland Thorns and the city's new WNBA 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:06.679 expansion team. Both teams are owned by the Bethal Families 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.760 RAJ Sports. The training center is expected to open in 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:12.240 early twenty twenty six, just in time for the Thorns 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.960 season and ahead of the yet to be named WNBA 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:19.039 expansion team's debut. A little more dual sports news, the 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.720 NWSL's BFC announced that they'll play the Washington Spirit at 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:26.800 Oracle Park, home of the MLB's San Francisco Giants, in August. 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:30.720 BFC could break the NWSL's attendance record if fans show out, 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.920 because forty two hundred and sixty fans can cram into 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.160 Oracle Park, that's twice as many as BFC's normal venue, 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.680 PayPal Park. The current NWSL attendance record was set last 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.720 summer when the Chicago Stars played against Bay in front 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.479 of thirty five thousand and thirty eight fans at Wrigley Field. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:48.480 Yours truly was one of. 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.960 Them to college hoops after three seasons at UCLA, the 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.320 last two as a starter. Guard Lundon Jones, who led 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.440 the Bruins in three point makes last season, has committed 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:04.440 to RIVEC via the transfer portal. Teammate Janiah Barker, who 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.800 spent two seasons with Texas A and m before joining 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.640 the Bruins last year, has committed to Tennessee out of 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:13.480 the Transfer Portal. UCLA also saw its entire freshman class 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.840 enter the portal following the season, so it'll be a 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.400 new look bruined squad trying to make another Final Four run. 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.000 Next March to golf, where the LPGA's first major of 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.360 the season begins today the Chevron Championship at the Club 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.280 at Carlton Woods in the Woodlands, Texas. Play begins at 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.080 eight fifteen am Eastern today and teeing off at nine 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.919 thirty two am Eastern. Is the marquee group of defending 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:38.040 champ Nellie Corda and past Chevron winners Lily Avou and 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.320 Patty Taviatankt. The one hundred and thirty two player field 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.919 is playing for a seven point nine million dollar perse, 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.880 with the winner collecting one point two million and the 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.119 right to jump into the pond post victory, a celebration 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.679 that began with winner Amy Alcott in nineteen eighty eight 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.600 and became an annual tradition starting in nineteen ninety four, 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.120 carrying over from Rancho Mirage where the event used to 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.720 be to the Woodlands, when the tournament moved in twenty 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.679 twenty three. You can watch it all on the Golf 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:04.959 Channel beginning at ten am Eastern today and tomorrow, and 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:08.200 NBC on Saturday and Sunday starting at three pm Eastern. 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:10.760 ESPN Plus is also going to have featured coverage today 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.240 and tomorrow starting at nine am Eastern, and Saturday and 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.400 Sunday beginning at eight thirty am Eastern. 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.120 Finally, in hockey, it's official. 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.480 The PWHL announced on Wednesday they'll be expanding the league 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:24.840 with a team in Vancouver, British Columbia. That team will 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.480 start play this fall, joining the original six teams for 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.960 the twenty twenty five to twenty six season. The team 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:33.800 will operate as PWHL Vancouver until the permanent brand identity 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.240 is announced, but we do know that the team colors 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:41.880 will be Pacific Blue and cream slices. I'm back from 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.200 New York, where not only did I meet the Queen 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.920 Ellie the Elephant at the Deep Blue Business of Women's 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:49.440 Sports Summit linked to our selfie in the show notes, 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.720 I also moderated a great panel about growth and innovation 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:56.840 with folks from Unrivaled together Athletes, Unlimited Softball, the NHRA, 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.680 and Relo Metrics. Really learned a ton from those folks 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.200 about they're innovating. I also got to hear Lauren and 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.440 Siata Bett's chat about playing together at UCLA next year. 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.360 I saw Azy Fudd and Sue Byrd talk about Yukon's 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:10.640 title run this year, and watched a panel of New 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.920 York Liberty execs share the secrets to their championship season. Plus, 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:21.120 I absolutely marveled over Chelsea Clinton's thoughtfulness, insight, and impressive vocabulary. 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.840 I need to start using subsumes in everyday conversation like 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.080 she does. There were so many other great panels throughout 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:28.720 the day. Lots of friends of the show were there, 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:33.000 including the Valkyrie, Jess Smith, Moulach Kicks, Natalie White, the GISTs, 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.200 Ellen Hyslop, and US women's national team legend Brianna Scurry. 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:38.160 And it was really cool to get to see a 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:41.880 bunch of fellow iHeart Women's Sports Network podcast hosts, Carrie Champion, 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:47.440 mel Reed, Ashlyn Harris, Christina Williams, Treika Foster, Brasby, Aj Andrews, 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:51.320 Renee Stubbs, the whole gang was there. Speaking of those podcasts, 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.880 by the way, a little teaser keeping here out for 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:55.960 next week's episodes, because we'll be helping you get to 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.719 know some of those other pods. What was really cool 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.280 about the event was it was a year ago this 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:03.920 week that I was on stage with Laura Currny of 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.840 Deep Blue, Sue Bird, and Gail Trouberman of iHeart to 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:10.280 announce the launch of our iHeart Women's Sports Network and 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.520 I crunch the numbers, and in the year since we announced, 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.799 we have launched fifteen podcasts, we've quadrupled women's sports coverage 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:21.680 across Iheart's broadcast radio network, provided more than six hundred 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:26.839 hours of content, reached seventy five million fans, And personally, 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:29.760 not only have I done almost two hundred podcasts with 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:31.640 our little crew here a Good Game with Sarah Spain, 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.839 but I've done over eight hundred women's sports reports, three 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.640 times daily updates that run on all of Iheart's five 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.520 hundred broadcast radio stations across the country. So when you 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.279 multiply those by three times a day across all those stations, 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:47.240 that's forty thousand updates where people with no choice have 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.960 heard about the WNBA, the NWSLPWHL, the Olympics, and so 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.960 much more right alongside their weather and traffic, and right 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.279 alongside the updates about men's sports, which we love because 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.400 for decades we have just been driving our cars told 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:02.960 about what men are doing, and now all over the 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.120 country people are hearing about what women are doing in 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:08.640 sports as well. So shout out to that conference and 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.160 shout out to one year since we launched the network. 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.120 It's just it's been a really fun year. We're going 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.400 to take a quick break when we come back. It's 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.160 Megan Klingenberg. Last week I caught up with her and 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.440 her Pomeranians, who you can hear occasionally in the interview stick. 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:30.400 Around joining us now. 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.560 She's a former member of the US women's national team, 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.520 a World Cup champion, two time NWSL champion, and two 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.680 time NWSL shield winner. She played her college ball at UNC, 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.240 played pro for multiple teams in the WPS in Sweden 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.760 and then in the NWSL, playing for the Houston Dash 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.080 for a season before finding a home with the Portland 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.760 Thorns and playing there from twenty sixteen till twenty twenty four. 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.440 She's a co founder of lifestyle brand Reinc. A black 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.039 belt in taekwondo, a self proclaimed decaf latte connoisseur, and 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.960 Sudoku master. Her love language is French fries, but she 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:00.960 ain't salty. It's Meghan Klingenberg. 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.080 Hi, Cling, Hi, Sarah, how you doing. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.760 I'm good. Nice to see you too long? 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:10.400 I know. 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:12.960 Can I just tell you how often? So this wouldn't 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.440 take people behind the scenes briefly. So I met Cling 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.920 at the US women's national team player's ball, but it 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:21.320 was like a whole fun couple days of events before that. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.520 We were going to see the national team play in 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:29.040 New York friendly before the gala, and when we first met, 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:30.720 we were chatting and I'm like, I'm pretty sure this 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.280 is Megan Klingenberg, but I wasn't sure. And then at 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.640 some point I said something really dumb about like, oh, 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.480 the national team, like did you ever play? 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:39.920 And it was like me trying to figure out if 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:40.400 you were you? 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.720 And then you were so humble like yeah, I'd play 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:44.960 a little, and I was like, I look like an asshole. 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:46.720 I should have been like very sure that it was her, 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:48.440 and then now I look like someone who didn't know 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.320 that she was really great and played for the national team. 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.680 And then I like literally thought about it multiple times 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.680 since then, like every time you pop on my social 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.240 I'm like, oh, I bet she thinks I'm such an asshole. 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.000 But then we ung out for a couple of days 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.480 and I was like, we're cool. Even though I you know, 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:04.560 you're just so little. 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:07.440 Everyone's too little to me for me to think that 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.160 they're the person that they are. That is like amazing 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.240 because I'm just so tall and you're so tiny. 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.160 You know what, I actually do get that a lot. 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:19.160 I feel like a lot of people like Pinot and 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.040 Press and Sophia Smith, like they can't go on to 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.320 the radar. They just kind of stick out when they're 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:29.880 walking around town. But nobody expects this teeny tiny little 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.360 body to be able to do what it did. So 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.280 I just had to just like squeeze through crowds and 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.920 I just go to places where people are they don't 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.319 even notice that. They kind of think that I'm in 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:42.400 high school or something. 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.480 It's a nice problem to have as you get older. 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:47.200 Maybe not when you're younger and you want people to 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:48.960 respect you, but as you're older, you're like, oh I 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:50.120 look extremely young. 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:52.400 Oh thank you. 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:54.800 You parted ways with Portland at the end of last season, 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.720 and you posted to social in part quote this isn't 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.000 the ending I wanted, but it's the ending that I chose, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.240 and as every athlete knows, getting to choose your ending 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.760 is a rare gift. I'm excited for what's next and 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:06.800 wherever I end up, I'll carry Portland with me. 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.800 Didn't sound like a retirement at the time, was it. 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.520 Well, I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. Right now, 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:20.040 I'm just kind of like enjoying life and just kind 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:25.840 of seeing what life without soccer feels like. I feel 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:30.360 like the end of Portland wasn't really that fun. It 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.640 wasn't really what it had been for all of the 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.280 years that I had been playing there. I feel like 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.360 a lot of things had changed and the culture just 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:49.880 became completely different, and it was hard because we built 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.600 this culture over six seven, eight years and then it 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:59.240 shifted and it felt like I wasn't meant to be 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.080 a part of that culture anymore, or be a part 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.880 of that group, or be a part of that future. 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:09.360 Which is fine, those things happen, you know, especially two 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:15.800 athletes who are on the other side of thirty five. 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:26.040 But I just feel like it just wasn't really a 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:29.120 space for me to be my authentic self anymore. It 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.200 wasn't a space for me to feel joy, and it 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:37.200 wasn't a space for me to play freely, and so 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.480 I just knew that it wasn't really the spot that 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.560 I needed to be in anymore. And regardless of where 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:46.640 I end up, or if I retire or if I 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:50.640 keep playing, I just knew that that wasn't where I 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.840 wanted to be. And so I made the decision, a 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:59.160 very hard decision, that that wasn't someplace where I was 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.600 gonna invest my time anymore. 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:05.199 You know, I was watching an interview with you last 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.960 year with Attacking Third, and it was sort of an 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.080 innocuous question about what music you've been listening to, and 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:12.000 you said Chapel Rone. 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:13.440 You said you've been listening to her for a while. 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:15.920 You're an og Chapel head, but you were very good 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.120 about embracing the newbies that were starting to love her too. 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:21.880 You weren't being a hipster about it. You were welcoming 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.040 us all to the Chapel Roan party, but you got 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.680 deep into it. And you said that last season her 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:29.560 music helped you get to a place where you could 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.400 dance again, that when you're not dancing and singing, people 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.920 should check in on you. You do have this incredible 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.840 light about you that I imagine if it's darkened, people notice. 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.160 And I'd love to hear you talk about that, particularly 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.320 because I think the power of certain music and maybe 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.640 artists that make you feel seen is really incredible. Why 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.400 did you need that last year and how did it 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:49.560 arrive for you when you needed it? 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:54.319 I always need music in my life. It's something that 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:56.840 I don't know if you get this feeling. Apparently there's 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.959 only a certain percentage of people that get this fear. 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.280 I was reading about it the other day, but it's like, 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:07.559 if a song really sits with you and it it 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:11.360 makes you feel something, then you get chills. Does that 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:11.920 happen to you? 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:13.160 Yeah? Yeah. 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.200 I literally have sent my bestdie my concert wife that 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.160 article because it says people who get the goosebumps or 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.680 chill bumps or have awe. I cry a lot at concerts, 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.679 Oh totally, just like I get so overwhelmed by how 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:28.760 happy I am and how much like it means to 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.640 me that I cry. When I first started dating, my 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.560 husband was like, uh you okay. I'm like, oh yeah, 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.280 you'll get used to this. I do this a lot. 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.640 That's amazing, But yeah, that article said that it's actually 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.000 really good for health outcomes, that they're not entirely sure why, 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:46.160 but that people who genuinely and regularly experience awe at 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:50.520 the world, particularly things like music, have better general health 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.720 across multiple different indicators. 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:54.800 I'm like, yes, please, I send it to my friend 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.680 and we're like we're good. Yeah, love that. 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.080 I I think just last year there was a lot 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:06.000 of stress and anxiety that I really haven't felt playing 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:12.200 soccer in a very long time since I was very young, 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:18.439 and like trying to prove myself, and those anxiety and 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:22.720 stress feelings were really compounding to the point where I 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.240 wasn't really wanting to show up to training or to 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.360 go to soccer, which by the way, is a first 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:31.680 for me. Ever, the thing that I love most about 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.240 the game is showing up to practice and hanging out 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.280 with my friends and having fun and bopping the ball 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.080 as fast as we can go into the weight room, 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.720 like just hanging out, and that's what brings me the 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.880 most joy in soccer, and so I wasn't getting that 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.560 last year. And when you're not getting that day after 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.920 day after day from something that previously brought you so 0:13:55.080 --> 0:14:03.240 much joy, it became like compounded each day that you 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.200 went like it became harder and harder and harder to go. 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:13.120 So I decided that I needed to look into this 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:20.200 more and to figure out what brings me joy besides soccer. 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:22.960 And I've been really good about that in the past, 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:27.800 but soccer has been relatively easy for me throughout my 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:31.400 career in the last ten years. Of course, there's been setbacks. 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.040 Of course there's been heartbreaks, of course there's been losses, 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:40.200 but overall, it's been such a nourishing and beautiful journey 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.960 that I've felt so grateful for it. And just in 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:47.520 the past year that completely flipped, and so I was 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.760 just starting to really lean into the other things in 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:55.760 life that brought me joy, and one of those was music. 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.640 And that's how Chapel Rowan came to be. And I 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.800 just been bopping to her and turning the jams up 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.160 as loud as I could. And one of the things 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.520 that it helped me realize, which was actually quite profound 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:11.320 for me. I don't know if it would be profound 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.520 for everybody else, but what was profound for me is 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.520 that I realized that soccer never brought me joy. It 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:23.800 was always me bringing me joy and that soccer was 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.600 just a vehicle for me to bring out my own joy. 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.240 So that was a really big moment for me, and 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.600 Chapel helped me discover that. And so that's kind of 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:36.640 what I was getting into with the attacking third. I'm 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.880 not entirely sure that that came across in that interview 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.720 because I don't think that I fully recognized what was 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:47.360 happening yet. But now after reflection and time and space, 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.360 I'm able to put a name to it, is that, yes, 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.720 this is what happened. I was able to have this 0:15:52.760 --> 0:16:00.080 realization and it's actually made it gosh, it's helped me 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:02.880 like bring about a sense of peace. 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:05.360 Yeah, it's interesting. 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:09.800 Back even in early twenty twenty three, you posted about 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.040 getting your championship rings with the Thorns, and the caption 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:15.560 was very simple. It was a couple of all your 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.640 you and your teammates on the right carpet showing off 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.120 the new rings, and you just said joy equal success. 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:22.360 So it feels like. 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.920 You've kind of known all along that it wasn't soccer 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:29.520 necessarily or winning that was success, but the process of 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.200 doing it and how it made you feel doing it. 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.680 Totally one of my coaches. His name's Jason Goldsmith, and 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.320 I've been working with him for a while now. He 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:42.120 works with a bunch of PGA players and stuff like 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.440 that on the mental game, and he's taught me how 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.800 to meditate and what meditation means and how it can 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:53.600 help you with sport in general and life in general. 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.560 And that's his go to saying, which I've totally stolen 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.760 and he has given approval of it. But yeah, joy 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.280 equals success is kind of my motto now, And even 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:08.480 when I have soccer camps for kids, I make sure 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.840 that they know that the number one thing is that 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:16.840 we're having fun, and that anywhere that we can have 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.640 fun means that we're being successful. And then I think 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.040 there's also the other side to it too, is that 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.760 when you are having fun, it probably will lead to success. 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.159 So it's kind of a double edged thing. Joy in 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:35.920 itself is a success, but also joy leads to success 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.639 in the field that you want. Because you're having so 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.280 much fun, how could you not be successful at it? 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.560 Yeah, you're probably playing free or and bringing your full 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:46.679 self and all of that. I remember learning about this 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:50.159 concept you diamonea. It was from Aristotle and it was 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.040 like the ultimate flourishing in life comes from a state 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.480 of happiness, Like it's distinct from like a simple pleasure. 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:00.479 It's like basically just like thriving, just like flourishing. And 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.200 I think about it a lot, because for some people, 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:06.840 happiness is not their ultimate goal. It's something else, and 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.479 then they hope they're happy as a result of that. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.080 And mine has always been happiness, like will that make 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.520 me happier? Or will it make me richer? If it 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.439 makes me richer but not happier than I'm not taking it, 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:16.919 If it makes me this but not happier that I'm 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.359 not taking it, and so I feel like joy happiness 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:23.159 like same vibe, which has really served me too. I 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.600 wonder being on the older side on the Portland Thorns 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.200 team and understanding how much younger people are getting better 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:34.040 at talking about mental health, about knowing their identity isn't 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.560 just their job or their work, compared to some of 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:39.199 us that had to learn that much older. When you 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.639 were thinking about your unhappiness there and trying to figure 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.760 out why you were waking up in this rut, did 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.240 you talk to your younger teammates at all about this 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:52.639 idea of joy or trying to figure out if they 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:55.119 had figured something out that maybe you needed to circle 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.200 back around and find out at an older age. 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.520 Well, I was always talking to them about different things 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.000 and just checking in with them, whether it was about 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.280 Love Island, USA, which we were all obsessed with and 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:11.520 oh my gosh, I love that, or whether it's you know, 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.960 just in general, checking in, seeing how they're doing after 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.520 a match, after a loss, after a win, going to 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.840 get coffee. I really tried to connect with a lot 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.359 of different people on the team in different ways. And 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:29.400 I was really proud of myself because while I wasn't 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.879 being successful on the field, because I wasn't on the field, 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:37.160 I felt like I had a really successful season off 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.760 the field and felt like I had a really big 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:45.760 impact on the group outside of the pitch. And that 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.280 made me really proud because while I had done that 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.800 before as a leader, I had to basically put aside 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:57.080 my ego this year and figure out how to still 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:59.359 help the group. And don't get me wrong, there was 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:01.360 a lot of time where I couldn't put it aside, 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.120 and that's okay because that's what makes me me and 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:07.720 that's what helped me become successful at this sport was 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:11.240 believing in myself and telling everybody to get the fuck 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.680 out of my way if they're you're not going to 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:19.439 help me, you know. And sometimes there's just nothing that 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.199 you can do, regardless of how well you're playing, or 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:25.440 how good of a teammate you are, or how much 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.320 you know, how good of a performance you're putting in 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:32.280 in any of your minutes, it just doesn't matter sometimes, 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:36.520 And it's sometimes because you're not good enough. Sometimes it's 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:39.639 because the coach just doesn't think that you're going to 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.160 give the team what it needs. Sometimes you just don't 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:48.000 fit the picture. There's a bunch of different reasons why 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:52.800 it doesn't add up, and it's not all because you're unworthy. 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.639 And I think that one of the things that people 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:59.560 our age have a hard time with, at least the 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.320 friend that I'm around, is that if we fail, or 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:06.439 if we're not doing something the way that everybody else is, 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.760 or we're not completing our goals on this timeline that 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:14.400 we have in our heads, that were unworthy and that's 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:19.320 just not true. And you know, just talking to people 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:25.720 about that and talking through kind of just feelings of 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:30.040 being on the bench and feelings of getting older was 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.600 really interesting this year because I could tell that my 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:39.280 teammates really loved me because they were just so compassionate 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:42.919 and caring and really landed an ear whenever I needed it. 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:47.200 And that was kind of a flip from before when 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:49.960 I hadn't had to have these type of conversations in 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:53.119 a season. So I really appreciate them doing that. I 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:57.320 don't think they even realize how big of a impact 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:01.000