BY SAMANTHA WEBER

As an athlete, you’re taught to leave it all on the field. You must live in the moment, launch yourself into every tackle, find your eternity in each drive towards goal. Why? Because you never know when you’ll be sidelined with an injury, or worse, forced to hang up your boots for good. No one wants to walk away from the game feeling like they could have done more. After spending a week with the FC Kansas City team, I don’t think anyone understands this more than professional female soccer players in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

During my time in KC, I was privileged to stay with my good friend, Yael Averbuch and her teammates Heather O’Reilly (HAO), Tiffany Weimer, and Molly Menchel. I’m not sure what I expected life to be like as a professional soccer player, but what I experienced as a honorary guest in their apartment left me feeling both inspired by their hard work and commitment and shocked by how much they truly have to sacrifice just to get by.

With some players making as little as $6,000 per year, these players know how important it is to live in the moment because it only takes one unexpected bill or extraneous expense to make it almost impossible to put food on the table. And there’s no script or roadmap to success when it comes to making it in this league — these players are gladiators — fighting to grow the game and to leave a legacy that the next generation of women can follow.

All that to say, these players really know how to have fun. My first night in KC reminded me of what it was like to be on a team again. After dinner, part of the team came over to the apartment for a night of improv led by the one and only, Tiffany Weimer. Tiffany gave each person a character and set the scene. Defenders Alex Arlitt and Brianne Reed played two roommates overwhelmed by a sudden bug infestation while forward Shea Groom and USWNT midfielder Heather O’Reilly stared as the exterminator who is afraid of bugs and her boss. I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants (SNL, you might want to give them a call).