It's exciting to play against old teammates, old friends.
Jessica McDonald
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.
You don't know where you're going to be tomorrow. It's kind of hard to plan a future.
Being able to inspire my kid with what I'm doing now, it's going to help him succeed in the future, and that's one of my main goals here - is to try and succeed on the field, and succeed as a mother.
Being here in Houston, I have a lot more weight on my shoulders than I did in Portland. I feel a lot more appreciated because I am starting now, and I'm scoring goals.
It's just an amazing feeling to walk barefooted in some nice grass.
You're always supposed to follow-up any cross or whatever towards the goalkeeper.
When you become a parent, obviously it changes your life in so many ways.
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.
Just getting paid for six months out of the year is unacceptable in any kind of job.
What I am working hardest for is for my kid, for a better future for him.
I know all the girls; we all have something to play for, we all have this goal, and we're all on the same page as to what we want at the end of the day. But as for me, I have something a little bit more to play for, and that's my kid.
I'm not just working for myself anymore. I'm working for my kid as well, someone who's actually looking up to me on a whole other level than the younger generation.
I need to keep my focus as an individual and keep supporting my team.
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.
Sometimes I wear makeup while I play - I did it during the World Cup because the cameras were always on us, but for club, not so much. If I'm wearing it on the field, I try not to apply too much.
In high school and college, I always, always straightened my hair. Don't ask why; I was just so into my image. Post-college, I started wearing my hair natural.
I was born and raised in Phoenix.
My grandmother - my inspiration - was a single mom with nine kids, and she helped raise me.
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.
My parents gave up on their dreams in sports because they were athletes, and they had me at such an early age. I didn't want to do that.
There were days when I would just go home and cry because it was that hard, but I didn't want to give up just because things got hard, just because I was a mom.
I was one of those players that had to come in and prove that I can belong on this field with these girls, and I can hang in this league as well.
It was definitely a big boost when I went into Australia. That's what really got my recognition going. I started scoring. I started feeling a little bit better each game.
I've had so many parents DM me on social media thanking me because I simply have dreadlocks, because their daughters wear dreadlocks and play with dreadlocks, and I'm like, 'Well why not? Let's do it.' It's really cool to be able to inspire the younger generation of kids of color that look like us.
My journey has been up and down a little bit. Everything that has to do with success for me has sort of become a shock to me. You work so hard, you work so hard, and it happens; you're like, 'What? Wait, it's happening to me?'
You name the sport, I've played it. I was quarterback for a football team one year, played volleyball, played softball - you name it.
Obviously this is something huge, just to be playing on the world stage and repping all the parents out there - not just the parents, but obviously all of the African American girls who feel as if they don't have much to rely to make your dreams come true, whatever the circumstances may be.
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 became a starter in Portland, and then I lost my spot, but for what reason? It wasn't explained to me. I thought it was unfair.
Sometimes women's soccer can be political.
The more minutes you get on the pitch, the more you can prove yourself.
Everyone has their opinions about the Bible and God.
I'm trying to take care of my kid, and the only way to do that is obviously being financially stable.
Being able to go home to my kid is such a relief because he's such a happy kid. He balances my life out in such a good way.
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.
After having a child, my career just skyrocketed. You have all that weight to kill off - you're working 10 times harder.
