It wasn't until 1999 when my idols Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly took home the women's World Cup trophy at the Rose Bowl in front of 40 million TV viewers that I remember thinking how rare it was to see women play sports on TV.
I was the biggest tomboy growing up. Now I love playing with a full face of makeup.
I really try to take a step back from the soccer world and going a thousand miles an hour every day. I like to do some sort of either meditation or mental visualization or breathing exercises - something to calm my mind down because a lot of times, it's just going faster than it should.
I think it's huge, especially in team sports, for players to be able to rely on each other and to really trust in each other.
My workouts are mostly interval-based, so I'm never running at a constant speed. I'm always switching it up because I don't want my body getting used to one thing in particular.
Sportsmanship is definitely an important thing in all sports. In soccer, we all respect each other on such a high level, between Sweden and Brazil and Japan or whatever team it is.
