One Life

by Megan Rapinoe

Tunnel vision is a prerequisite for most professional athletes.

it turns out that the sound of ten thousand people telling you to go fuck yourself can also blend into a solid mass possible to ignore.

It’s a big advantage when you’re trying to get better at something to spend all your time with someone who can be completely honest with you without fear of losing your love.

“Let’s get this done.”

In soccer, finding your own style on the field is as much about self-discovery as it is about practicing and strengthening your skills. As a young kid, you chase after the ball along with everyone else, kicking it more or less haphazardly toward the goal. It’s only as you get older and more proficient that, while understanding you have to work as a team, you start to develop your own personality and flair.

When you’re surrounded by players who are much, much better than you, your performance improves. It’s easy to be good when everyone around you is good.

Playing on a less talented team can actually be a better test of your skill, when you’re doing the work of three people. But as a young player, working for the first time in tandem with the best players in the world felt like being in a different game altogether.

Part of the coach’s job is to manage the feelings of the players, and that means not passing on her anxiety to them.

Coaching is a hard job. To be around a team of elite, confident women, you have to be as big and bold as they are, and if you’re not, it’s blood in the water.

but I also needed to be my best self—so as not to lose her. I tell her this to this day: If she ever breaks up with me, I’ll crumble to dust.