It's a season packed into, what, seven or eight months? I think in any professional sport, it's not like a normal job. We don't have free weekends. We play our games at night. It's not a normal schedule where you go and do whatever you want.

In my opinion, at times - I guess in any professional sport, not just soccer and the NWSL - it's somewhat of a selfish life. It's, "Hey, I have to do this, I can't do that." I've missed out on so many family events and things in my life for soccer, and I have no regrets because of that, but I think there's certainly financial limitations.

On the other side of that, the fortunate thing is that many of the women playing in this league find opportunities to coach, or find opportunities to make money. And though we wish it wasn't like that - we wish we could give everything to our sport and get paid like we should - at the same time, it does make you a better person. It gives you coaching experience, and it helps you learn about other things in life than just soccer.

[...]

Growing the women's game is something that I'm passionate about, and having the opportunity for young girls to have a league to play in professionally. I grew up going to all the Philadelphia Charge games at Villanova. I was a ballgirl at every game. I couldn't get enough.

And luckily, when I graduated from college, there was a league that I was able to play in for two years. When it folded, I didn't really know what to do. I can't imagine being one of those players who graduated from college when there was no league, because I don't think I would have continued playing. I don't think I would have gone overseas. I had a college degree, I was a pretty good student.

I'm passionate about that. I want young girls, young women, to have the opportunity to play professionally, and to continue to grow our game at the same time. I think with the women's national team and the World Cup and Olympics, people know who the are now. People know what's going on, and the interest is much higher.

I hope that continues to grow, because it has given so much to me, and I am so grateful. I hope that continues to grow. I've seen other professional sports, including my boyfriend's golf career, and they are treated like true pros.

[...]

Continuing to have the national team players protect us and fight for us, and continue to protect the league, and everything that it stands for, I think that can play a huge role [in sustaining the NWSL]. And they certainly do - they do care about us as players, and the sustainability of the league.

U.S. Soccer backing the league, I think that's a positive step. I don't know all the details of everything that goes on, but I would assume that without them, we probably wouldn't have a league. And just continuing to find invested owners [and] MLS teams who want to buy in.

Playing in Portland, Houston and Orlando, the three MLS markets [where MLS clubs own NWSL teams], you can tell the difference. You have better facilities, you have an experienced front office, that kind of thing.

There's a variety of different things that go into growing the game and growing our league. It's a personal journey for everyone, because there are so many different circumstances in this league. You have the national team players who live completely different lives than us, then you have rookies that are just coming in, and then I'm kind of in between. I've played in WPS and the NWSL, but it wasn't always an ascending road for me.

[...]

Compared to teams that aren't MLS-backed, you can tell the difference and feel the difference. The front office, the media, everyone kind of knows how it works.

Orlando, especially, we would sit down and have our meal with the men's players - breakfast and lunch before breakfast. That's something you'd see at Bayern Munich. That was pretty cool, the way that Orlando took care of us.

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