There is more to life than soccer?

I seemed to struggle with this one more than the others. Which is strange because quite a bit actually happened this weekend. More importantly, last night I saw Edie Carey and on a whim, we decided to stay for Raining Jane. I HIGHLY recommend both!

I went to DC this weekend to help Louise Waxler, the Director of Operations of the Washington Freedom, with the Kicks Against Breast Cancer tournament. What does any good operations person do on their weekend off? Volunteer to help at other events! Okay, no not normally but this one is special, and any opportunity to help Louise and the other awesome people of the Freedom is a treat. This year was even more impactful than last. I ran into some Sky Blue alum from Villanova and Loyola College (MD), which was nice surprise. And even one of my WWPSA U10s parents! (The girl’s older sister plays at Villanova).

Something that means so much to me is seeing the quality of, in a sense, our “product”, professional women’s soccer. At the luncheon, Abby came down to talk to the girls, and she gave an impassioned speech on doing more than play soccer, to make a difference in the world. She spoke with sincerity but never came across as preachy or on a soapbox. I imagine it made quite an impact on these young girls. Made me proud to work in this league as well, if I’m supporting people like that.

Anyway, after the event, I got the best seat in the house…anywhere I wanted! I did some recon on the operations of the Freedom, taking some good mental notes. I love this idea of best practices! Helped a bit, walked around as much as possible. Coolest part, Christine Brennan came to her first game, Mary Harvey and Thom Meredith were on hand. And of course Jim Gabarra’s wife, aka Navy Head Coach Carin Jennings-Gabarra aka “Crazy Legs.” (Yes, just realized that was too many "aka"s)

Post-game I had a chance to trash talk with some devoted Washington Freedom fans. That was definitely the highlight of my night. I love talking to fanatics, soak up their passion, and of course throw friendly barbs at each other! It was certainly a Freudian slip I wore only Sky Blue FC gear. Oops….


The question remains, can one person start a rivalry between two teams still searching for a win?


PS. Check out Invisible Children organization. I heard about it from Sophia Perez, one of our trainers, and its worth educating yourself on the issues.

PPS. Brandi Chastain's infamous sports bra is stuck in limbo at NJ storage facility.... LOL