WOLFPACK: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game

by Abby Wambach

The plant ecosystem regenerated. The animal ecosystem regenerated. The entire landscape changed. All because of the wolves’ presence. See what happened there?

The wolves—who were feared by many to be a threat to the system—became the system’s salvation. Now, look around our world today: See what’s happening here? Women—who are feared by many to be a threat to our system—will become our society’s salvation. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. WE.

There is a wolf inside of every woman. Her wolf is who she was made to be before the world told her who to be. Her wolf is her talent, her power, her dreams, her voice, her curiosity, her courage, her dignity, her choices—her truest identity.

In the first quarter of 2018, women in the U.S. earned 81.1 percent of what their male counterparts earned across all industries and ages. Studies have shown that, on average, women must work sixty-six extra days in order to earn the same salary as their male counterparts.

What keeps the pay gap in existence is not just the entitlement and complicity of men. It’s the gratitude of women. Our gratitude is how power uses the tokenism of a few women to keep the rest of us in line.

Here’s what’s important: You are allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life’s benched you. What you aren’t allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere.

Leadership is not a position to earn, it’s an inherent power to claim. Leadership is the blood that runs through your veins—it’s born in you. It’s not the privilege of a few, it is the right and responsibility of all. Leader is not a title that the world gives to you—it’s an offering that you give to the world.

Forget me. Forget my number. Forget my name. Forget I ever existed. Forget the medals won, the records broken, and the sacrifices made. I want to leave a legacy where the ball keeps rolling forward. Where the next generation accomplishes things so great that I am no longer remembered. So—Forget me. Because the day I’m forgotten is the day we will succeed.

You see, soccer didn’t make me who I am. I brought who I am to soccer, and I get to bring who I am wherever I go. So do you. So don’t just ask yourself, “What do I want to do?” Ask yourself: “Who do I want to be?” The most important thing I’ve learned is that what you do will never define you for long. Who you are always will. We are the Wolves. There is magic inside of us. There is power among us. Let’s unleash and unite. Let’s storm these valleys together, and change the game forever.