With eight appearances and three World Cup wins between them, soccer legends Abby Wambach and Julie Foudy peel back the curtain on life at the top of the sport.
Amazing to have this on-field off-field perspective on the World Cup. I have recently curtailed my sports fanaticism, because I was spending way too much time contemplating Cubs’ losing streaks and the Avs in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the way the Nuggets broke down against the T’wolves. But as Abby says: “This thing, them losing, is not negatively going to affect your life in any way. You are safe.” My best move ever: deleting my sports apps. I’m free at last! If I had a jersey to whip off, I would.
Good writing, I use to say why would I watch sports when I can play them. I used this analogy for many things..but its the grit and seeing wins and losses at pivotal moments that inspire us to work hard , try our best and most of all show up for yourself and whoever you consider a TEAM!
I loved reading this. You were incredible role models for our daughters. What a gift to see strong women going for broke! It’s amazing you’ve continued to give so much through insights and podcasts and articles. Thank you for everything!
The post-tournament blues section is the most honest thing in here. Years of training for one thing, and the emptiness arrives whether you win or lose.
Every endurance athlete knows a version of that finish line. Nobody warns you about it.
Julie Foudy and Abby Wambach, these two legends of Women’s soccer, followed them when they played Olympics & World Cup with our 2 young daughters learning the game, giving them examples of great women athlete’s, both girls went on to play club ball & college experiences. Great to see them in this setting with their humor, joy and insights! Thanks, looking forward to the next Welcome to the Party on Substack!
This was a powerful read. One thing life has taught me is that we often stay connected to things that no longer serve us because they feel familiar, not because they are healthy.
Regret can convince us that if we just try one more time, say one more thing, or wait a little longer, the outcome will somehow be different. Sometimes that hope keeps us moving forward. Other times it keeps us standing still.
As a practicing Buddhist, I’ve learned that attachment is often the real source of our suffering. The hardest lessons in life are rarely about letting go of another person. They’re about letting go of the version of the future we believed was supposed to happen.
Healing doesn’t erase the past. It gives us permission to stop reliving it.
Thank you for sharing this. It is an important reminder that peace begins when we stop negotiating with yesterday, we don’t live there anymore.
Don't watch: play. Voyeurism is tacky but not tactile.
Don't be a bystander in life: get stuck in.
11-a-side football with subs is the most boring, tedious sport I ever used to play regularly as a schoolboy, even though I was a champion dribbler. There are simply too many players on the field at the same time. Subs make an already absurd pastime even more ridiculous.
Two-a-side soccer I loved — played every day. Plastic football, four sweaters thrown down as goal posts, no goalie, playing into the long summer English evening. Sublime.
On seeing his hapless, aristocratic pupil Epigenes wandering morosely towards the Athenian Gymnasium, Socrates scolded his effete student's reluctance to get naked, hot, and sweaty, with the cream of Athens' young male nobility, preparing his spirit, mind, and body, for combat in defense of his patria — the philosopher's final, tart rebuke was:
'Furthermore, what a shame it is for a man to grow old, without ever knowing the strength and vigour of which his body is capable!'
We ought not waste our limited time on Gaia watching others live.
Ha, yes. I reckon the downtime section is the substantial-est wee gem here: nobody pictures elite athletes just lying horizontal doing nothing between matches, do they. Oh man. It strips away all the glamour and shows the actual grubby grind underneath. Zing. Thanks for writing this!
This was such a thoughtful conversation. What stayed with me most was the idea that success doesn’t remove pressure—it simply changes its shape. Whether in sport, business, or life, learning to separate our identity from our achievements may be one of the hardest and most important lessons. Thank you for such an honest and deeply human discussion. ❤️
Is there a job where someone like me just reads and removes the troll comments?? What the F is wrong with people?? I guess because they will
NEVER reach the pinnacle of anything - they just sit around being deplorable. I am so very sorry people suck. You all are so refreshing and human to listen to even tho you are really superhuman! Thank you for doing all you do🩷
I coached and trained a lass (a refugee from Mugabe who had murdered her maternal grandfather who had been a junior minister in Mugabe's government) to become a sixteen-year-old five-a-side football player for Oz, considered by the talent scouts at the World Championships in Brazil to be perhaps the best junior five-a-side female footballer in the world at that time.
I taught her everything i knew about athletic competition, the difference between strength and power, stamina and spirit, based upon my decades of analysis of athletic excellence, modelled using the techniques of mathematical physics. She became so explosive she was a contender for the Australian women's squad at 100 metres in the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
While one of the best of the best of her peers, she was not of course in the same league as Messi, Cruyff, Pele. (I'm not including Maradona in the list because for all his skills he was first and foremost a cheat).
No female human athlete can compete on equal terms with the best human male in most sporting disciplines with the well-established exception of Olympic equestrianism and Olympic shooting. It's physically impossible.
Even Olympic shooting is now coming under closer scrutiny. Sports medicine types are saying that men statistically have higher scores than women in pistol, dynamic and shotgun events. Those statistical difference disappear in 10m air rifle and is not 50m rifle, where strength and endurance are not as big a factor.
Regardless, when I watch my daughter at let’s say the Kona Ironman, though a dozen or more men will already have crossed the finish line she is nonplussed about that. Biology. She is more interested in her performance against herself, and that we celebrate.
In 1968, was given Guinness Book of Records for Christmas, fuchsia hardback, arguably best edition of GBR.
I was the Little Professor, fascinated by weird and wonderful, devoured encyclopedias.
Loved the account in GBR of a woman, Marjory Foster, in 1930 winning King's Prize at the National Rifle Association's Imperial Meeting at Bisley, beating the best men in the world, one of the oldest and most difficult target rifle competitions in the world, begun in 1860 on Wimbledon Common before moving to Bisley Camp, open to all—hence men and women compete head-to-head—but has only been won by women three times in its history (1930, 2000, and 2022).
Foster took on nearly 1,000 of the best male marksmen from across the British Empire. Using a full-bore target rifle, she advanced through two tough elimination stages to reach the final. In the final stage, shooters have to hit a tiny target from 823 m (900 yards) and 914 m (1,000 yards) away.
In my imagination, Foster was beautiful, slender, elfish, a cross between Arwen and Eowyn, fierce, warlike, womanly. In other words, my soulmate, an Artemis or Athene to my primitive Apollo.
In reality, of course, Foster was sturdy, short, and solid, in a lifelong partnership with another superb female shooter.
There's no substitute for solidity and strength. I was an early developer. At ten, I was pound for pound in my age group one of the strongest schoolboy athletes in England. I lacked skill, subtlety. Didn't matter. I overpowered everybody in wrestling, rugby, tennis, through my extraordinary strength and stamina.
In judo, I was stiff, unyielding, unsupple. Didn't matter. Overpowered far more skilled, higher ranked judokas. After hours of relentless combat, I was just getting warmed up. The hotter, more humid, the better. I was inexhaustible, indestructible, bullet proof.
No guy could match me. A girl had no chance. That's just the way it is. Look at big cats. A lion can kill a feisty lioness just like that.
Three daughters to be exact. One of which is a world champion in Triathlon. Even she will admit the men are slightly faster. If there were no differences, if they are the same, why have male and female categories?
Kudo's to all that tried. You are so talented but there is something else that defines the winner. I especially like the comment that ''pressure is a privilege, embrace it". I use a comment "Adversity is an opportunity" That works for people who do not have the talent........
Yes pressure is a privilege even being the underdog...let's all embrace what we have lived and know and who we are all the pain all the growth all the mistakes and regrets . Everything that hurts us or any negative emotions, adversities, getting through that, existing and helping others, or telling your story in a way that empowers people or yourself not hating, judging , or better or worse just to breathe and know we went through it and will be ok and qe have strength from that. It builds us .
I'd love to see the World Cup feature the womens' teams as well as the mens' teams. They run all the Open tennis matches that way. Why not soccer? The US women have performed spectacularly in World Cups but don't get the recognition that the men's tournaments get.
Stupidly, I admit, what spoiled this whole story for me was the repeated use of the word "legend" to describe athletes. Trigger warning: unrelated rant ahead.
Robin Hood and Paul Bunyan are legends. Not "people who are somewhat famous in a given sector of American society."
I haven't accepted the normalization of hype in this one inch of my mind. I'll stubbornly point out that appropriation isn't the only way language can transform. Sometimes people make up brand new words in acts of unbridled creativity ("coining"). Some notable examples: robot, meme, quark, blurb, Kodak, genocide, googol, chortle, po.
I realize language changes, I realize attachment is the root of suffering... But still often I mourn the loss... What do we call Paul Bunyan so he doesn't sound like a soccer player now?
Amazing to have this on-field off-field perspective on the World Cup. I have recently curtailed my sports fanaticism, because I was spending way too much time contemplating Cubs’ losing streaks and the Avs in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the way the Nuggets broke down against the T’wolves. But as Abby says: “This thing, them losing, is not negatively going to affect your life in any way. You are safe.” My best move ever: deleting my sports apps. I’m free at last! If I had a jersey to whip off, I would.
Good writing, I use to say why would I watch sports when I can play them. I used this analogy for many things..but its the grit and seeing wins and losses at pivotal moments that inspire us to work hard , try our best and most of all show up for yourself and whoever you consider a TEAM!
Top pop
I loved reading this. You were incredible role models for our daughters. What a gift to see strong women going for broke! It’s amazing you’ve continued to give so much through insights and podcasts and articles. Thank you for everything!
The post-tournament blues section is the most honest thing in here. Years of training for one thing, and the emptiness arrives whether you win or lose.
Every endurance athlete knows a version of that finish line. Nobody warns you about it.
Excellent opportunity to see & hear
Julie Foudy and Abby Wambach, these two legends of Women’s soccer, followed them when they played Olympics & World Cup with our 2 young daughters learning the game, giving them examples of great women athlete’s, both girls went on to play club ball & college experiences. Great to see them in this setting with their humor, joy and insights! Thanks, looking forward to the next Welcome to the Party on Substack!
This was a powerful read. One thing life has taught me is that we often stay connected to things that no longer serve us because they feel familiar, not because they are healthy.
Regret can convince us that if we just try one more time, say one more thing, or wait a little longer, the outcome will somehow be different. Sometimes that hope keeps us moving forward. Other times it keeps us standing still.
As a practicing Buddhist, I’ve learned that attachment is often the real source of our suffering. The hardest lessons in life are rarely about letting go of another person. They’re about letting go of the version of the future we believed was supposed to happen.
Healing doesn’t erase the past. It gives us permission to stop reliving it.
Thank you for sharing this. It is an important reminder that peace begins when we stop negotiating with yesterday, we don’t live there anymore.
Don't watch: play. Voyeurism is tacky but not tactile.
Don't be a bystander in life: get stuck in.
11-a-side football with subs is the most boring, tedious sport I ever used to play regularly as a schoolboy, even though I was a champion dribbler. There are simply too many players on the field at the same time. Subs make an already absurd pastime even more ridiculous.
Two-a-side soccer I loved — played every day. Plastic football, four sweaters thrown down as goal posts, no goalie, playing into the long summer English evening. Sublime.
On seeing his hapless, aristocratic pupil Epigenes wandering morosely towards the Athenian Gymnasium, Socrates scolded his effete student's reluctance to get naked, hot, and sweaty, with the cream of Athens' young male nobility, preparing his spirit, mind, and body, for combat in defense of his patria — the philosopher's final, tart rebuke was:
'Furthermore, what a shame it is for a man to grow old, without ever knowing the strength and vigour of which his body is capable!'
We ought not waste our limited time on Gaia watching others live.
Ha, yes. I reckon the downtime section is the substantial-est wee gem here: nobody pictures elite athletes just lying horizontal doing nothing between matches, do they. Oh man. It strips away all the glamour and shows the actual grubby grind underneath. Zing. Thanks for writing this!
This was such a thoughtful conversation. What stayed with me most was the idea that success doesn’t remove pressure—it simply changes its shape. Whether in sport, business, or life, learning to separate our identity from our achievements may be one of the hardest and most important lessons. Thank you for such an honest and deeply human discussion. ❤️
If you want to know how a sport really works, ask the people who have played it well.
Is there a job where someone like me just reads and removes the troll comments?? What the F is wrong with people?? I guess because they will
NEVER reach the pinnacle of anything - they just sit around being deplorable. I am so very sorry people suck. You all are so refreshing and human to listen to even tho you are really superhuman! Thank you for doing all you do🩷
I
M
Meh. They were not at the “top” of the sport. Perhaps for women, but that is not the “top” of the sport.
I coached and trained a lass (a refugee from Mugabe who had murdered her maternal grandfather who had been a junior minister in Mugabe's government) to become a sixteen-year-old five-a-side football player for Oz, considered by the talent scouts at the World Championships in Brazil to be perhaps the best junior five-a-side female footballer in the world at that time.
I taught her everything i knew about athletic competition, the difference between strength and power, stamina and spirit, based upon my decades of analysis of athletic excellence, modelled using the techniques of mathematical physics. She became so explosive she was a contender for the Australian women's squad at 100 metres in the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
While one of the best of the best of her peers, she was not of course in the same league as Messi, Cruyff, Pele. (I'm not including Maradona in the list because for all his skills he was first and foremost a cheat).
No female human athlete can compete on equal terms with the best human male in most sporting disciplines with the well-established exception of Olympic equestrianism and Olympic shooting. It's physically impossible.
Even Olympic shooting is now coming under closer scrutiny. Sports medicine types are saying that men statistically have higher scores than women in pistol, dynamic and shotgun events. Those statistical difference disappear in 10m air rifle and is not 50m rifle, where strength and endurance are not as big a factor.
Regardless, when I watch my daughter at let’s say the Kona Ironman, though a dozen or more men will already have crossed the finish line she is nonplussed about that. Biology. She is more interested in her performance against herself, and that we celebrate.
Quite so, John.
In 1968, was given Guinness Book of Records for Christmas, fuchsia hardback, arguably best edition of GBR.
I was the Little Professor, fascinated by weird and wonderful, devoured encyclopedias.
Loved the account in GBR of a woman, Marjory Foster, in 1930 winning King's Prize at the National Rifle Association's Imperial Meeting at Bisley, beating the best men in the world, one of the oldest and most difficult target rifle competitions in the world, begun in 1860 on Wimbledon Common before moving to Bisley Camp, open to all—hence men and women compete head-to-head—but has only been won by women three times in its history (1930, 2000, and 2022).
Foster took on nearly 1,000 of the best male marksmen from across the British Empire. Using a full-bore target rifle, she advanced through two tough elimination stages to reach the final. In the final stage, shooters have to hit a tiny target from 823 m (900 yards) and 914 m (1,000 yards) away.
In my imagination, Foster was beautiful, slender, elfish, a cross between Arwen and Eowyn, fierce, warlike, womanly. In other words, my soulmate, an Artemis or Athene to my primitive Apollo.
In reality, of course, Foster was sturdy, short, and solid, in a lifelong partnership with another superb female shooter.
There's no substitute for solidity and strength. I was an early developer. At ten, I was pound for pound in my age group one of the strongest schoolboy athletes in England. I lacked skill, subtlety. Didn't matter. I overpowered everybody in wrestling, rugby, tennis, through my extraordinary strength and stamina.
In judo, I was stiff, unyielding, unsupple. Didn't matter. Overpowered far more skilled, higher ranked judokas. After hours of relentless combat, I was just getting warmed up. The hotter, more humid, the better. I was inexhaustible, indestructible, bullet proof.
No guy could match me. A girl had no chance. That's just the way it is. Look at big cats. A lion can kill a feisty lioness just like that.
You must not be a father. My condolences 🙏
Three daughters to be exact. One of which is a world champion in Triathlon. Even she will admit the men are slightly faster. If there were no differences, if they are the same, why have male and female categories?
It sounds like your daughter is on top of her game. You should be more respectful of that.
Sure, and you know nothing.
Kudo's to all that tried. You are so talented but there is something else that defines the winner. I especially like the comment that ''pressure is a privilege, embrace it". I use a comment "Adversity is an opportunity" That works for people who do not have the talent........
'
Yes pressure is a privilege even being the underdog...let's all embrace what we have lived and know and who we are all the pain all the growth all the mistakes and regrets . Everything that hurts us or any negative emotions, adversities, getting through that, existing and helping others, or telling your story in a way that empowers people or yourself not hating, judging , or better or worse just to breathe and know we went through it and will be ok and qe have strength from that. It builds us .
I'd love to see the World Cup feature the womens' teams as well as the mens' teams. They run all the Open tennis matches that way. Why not soccer? The US women have performed spectacularly in World Cups but don't get the recognition that the men's tournaments get.
Mainly, because the level of womens FOOTBALL is low. International womens teams have been beaten by under 15s boys teams. Chalk and cheese.
Stupidly, I admit, what spoiled this whole story for me was the repeated use of the word "legend" to describe athletes. Trigger warning: unrelated rant ahead.
Robin Hood and Paul Bunyan are legends. Not "people who are somewhat famous in a given sector of American society."
I haven't accepted the normalization of hype in this one inch of my mind. I'll stubbornly point out that appropriation isn't the only way language can transform. Sometimes people make up brand new words in acts of unbridled creativity ("coining"). Some notable examples: robot, meme, quark, blurb, Kodak, genocide, googol, chortle, po.
I realize language changes, I realize attachment is the root of suffering... But still often I mourn the loss... What do we call Paul Bunyan so he doesn't sound like a soccer player now?
Huh?🤔
Soccer is boring. Watching sub par athletics for 3hrs is time lost. I hope they make money one day.