Michelle Lomnicki is talking about her injured back. A lingering injury, notoriously fickle, and one that played a hand in her decision to retire.

“It’s something that had always kind of been there. You knew that there was going to be an end at some point.”

Her perspective is tranquil; a struggle has come to an end. Lomnicki has seen the start of two professional women’s soccer leagues and the collapse of one. She has held down a full-time job outside of soccer, working until 9 o’clock at night and waking up at 5:30 in the morning to work again, all in the name of chasing a career that certainly had no pot of gold in store for her.

But that is the kind of dedication found in women’s soccer. It cannot be faked without losing something, and make no mistake, there is nothing lost about Michelle Lomnicki. Nostalgic, maybe. Longing for a better future for her league, her sport, definitely. But she is all there as we talk on phone. She is thinking about her future, her family, her husband. Fully aware of what she is going through.

It’s only been two weeks since her decision to retire, and she appears to have come to terms with the brunt of it. That’s not to say the transition is complete.

To say I miss playing soccer is an understatement — Michelle Lomnicki (@Michelle_Wenino) March 25, 2016

“I’ve been a professional soccer player [for seven years]. It’s what I know, what I’ve done, it’s how I’ve trained, and my mentality towards life every day. It definitely changes things when you have to think about [that] differently.”

That mentality was formed during a tumultuous time in women’s soccer history in the United States.

In 2009 she was drafted into the inaugural season of Women’s Professional Soccer by the Chicago Red Stars. In 2010 she left to play for SC Freiburg in Germany. In 2011 she came back to the US and joined Sky Blue FC. In 2012 she witnessed WPS fold. And in 2013 she was back with the Red Stars for the start of the National Women’s Soccer League.

She had to adapt on the field as well. After being playing for four years at the University of Colorado at Boulder, she had to become more of a role player in the professional ranks. After playing the American way her entire life, she had to learn an entirely new style of play during her year in Germany.

Change was par for the course, but staying on it did have its perks.

“[As players] we get to meet the community and meet kids who just aspire to be you. Which is really crazy, because I would never look at myself and be like, “oh yeah I’m a role model.” I wouldn’t necessarily say that, you know.”

But that was how she was looked at, and it is a telling aspect of her career. It explains a hunger found in women’s soccer that is unmatched in men’s sports. These players chase a career that is often thankless, with only the very top percentile getting paid well. They play for the love of the game, for what it means them, and for what it means to their fans and the next generation. They play for something bigger, and that was never more evident than during the start of the NWSL.

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“When we were able to start the league, it was just such a great time. It wasn’t about the money any more, it was about, you know, ‘We want to win. We want to come in and we want to play soccer and we want to do what we love.’”

Lomnicki may have said that her mentality has to change in retirement, but she doesn’t mean completely. She won’t lose the appreciation that can be found in the quote above. She knows the lessons and values her playing career taught her have not ceased to be valuable because she has stopped playing.

“I think that competitiveness to challenge myself and shift my focus on how I wanted to play [is] a big thing,” she mentions. “I can do that in any phase of my life.”

She can adapt to what she may have not have been able to adapt to before. She can be a role model in positions she may not have seen herself in before. She can address new demands and make new sacrifices in the name of something bigger.

She has already applied the lessons she has learned during her playing career to her decision to retire. Lomnicki knew that she couldn’t start a family and play professional soccer at the same time, she had to change to work towards that.

The Lomnickis. Photo: @Michelle_Wenino | Twitter

“I just think for [my husband and I] it was a matter of, if that’s going to be something in our lives, I would have to shift my focus and make a career change that could help us financially as well.”

And that encapsulates what shifting her focus and challenging herself can mean now. She is going to encounter new challenges, earn rewards, and form relationships that she could never have had before.

The world has opened up to her, but she isn’t going to forget about what it means to play for something bigger.

“The friendships I’ve made over the years have been the most valuable part of being an athlete, and being with 20 girls that are after the same goal. They’re all their for each other to help push each other. I think that is just something that you don’t really get in a lot of other parts of businesses. So I think that is something I completely value and feel very lucky about.”

She’s right, it’s not something found in a lot of other parts of business, but it is there. Luckily for Michelle Lomnicki, she knows how to recognize it.

Follow me on Twitter: @yetly