Soccer Lover’s Soccer Book Guide
The Soccer Lover’s Soccer Book Guide series reviews and rates books that tell the story of the beautiful game. Here is a new book of stories from world-class professional female players sharing their experiences and insights.
From Juggling a Lot of Balls to Visions of Champions
Tony DiCicco, Anson Dorrance, Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, Ali Krieger, Kristine Lilly, Heather O’Reilly, Carla Overbeck, Megan Rapinoe, and Abby Wambach are just a few of the contributors to the new Chicken Soup for the Soul – Women’s Soccer Royalty – great new book out that brings a tear to the eye and a smile to the heart of every soccer lover. Take this inside journey into the heart of Women’s Soccer in America and discover the highs and the lows – the victories and the defeats from the very personal and touching writings of those who are soccer royalty — and paved the way for America’s continued success on the soccer field.
Mia Hamm on Inside the Women’s World Championship – excerpt from the Foreword of Women’s Soccer Royalty
When the idea arose to create a book filled with personal stories of soccer from my friends and teammates I felt excited. All the people we reached out to were happy to share their stories, knowing that it would help support the Mia Hamm Foundation and thus keep the memory of my brother, Garrett, alive.
There is a common thread in these stories, whether they are from players, coaches, or journalists: team first! Anson Dorrance, our coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team and coach of women’s soccer at UNC, cited the type of team he was coaching: players appreciating one another, veterans helping newbies and vice versa, individuals who look beyond personal agendas and care for their teammates. Everyone supports the team and its mission.
Julie Foudy says that what she loved about our U.S. Women’s National Team was the real recognition it was something bigger than “you.”
Something Bigger Than “You”, written by Foudy starts off with In the late 1980’s, we were feisty young women who had just been brought into the national team. Mia Hamm was fifteen years old. Kristine Lilly and I were sixteen. Most of the other players were in college, so we were all very young. As a reader, I was hooked the moment I read the first sentence as I was magically transformed back to a time when these World Cup Champions were young teenagers.
Kristine Lilly’s final paragraph states, “As a family we did everything together. We won together, we lost together, and we got married and had kids together.” We were a family.
A Little Secret by Lilly opens with a very personal insight into the woman who was on the U.S. Women’s National team for 24 years and earned the most caps of any soccer player in the history of the sport (men’s or women’s). Lilly is also the 3rd top USA goal scorer ever, just behind Hamm’s 158 and Abby Wambach’s growing tally of 182. Lilly shares that Making friends wasn’t the easiest thing for me, but my love of sports sure helped with that.
From insightful and deeply personal vulnerabilities to the precious hopes and dreams of those who walked towards the flowing horizon, creating a new path — these are the women who forged ahead and established women’s soccer in the world, and they all have great stories to tell.
For examine, the fabulous Abby Wambach wrote, The 122nd Minute, which shares her experiences at the 2011 World Cup quarterfinals when the USA took on Brazil — the regulation time ended in a 2-2 draw and our USWNT won in a shootout after an unbelievable comeback. Final score – USA won on penalties 5-3. This was the match when Wambach took on Marta and America emerged victorious.
Abby Wambach writes, The events that transpired were unusual, such as Hope saving the first penalty and then getting called for supposedly coming off her line too early. Then, when another penalty was awarded to Brazil, they scored that penalty kick to tie the game. Now down a “man” as we went into extra time, they scored again…. It is so seldom you ever play down a man and come back, especially in the intense environment of a World Cup.
Wambach continues her story recounting her initial frustrations when Christie Rampone pass the ball to Ali Krieger who sent it to Carli Lloyd.
At first I was upset with her. From my perspective I wanted her to pass it in a more direct route to me, not out wide to Megan Rapinoe. In hindsight it was brilliant ….
The book also explores how tough it is to be a female soccer player. Captain “Mom” written by Carla Overbeck brings readers back to when U.S. Soccer’s female players brought diapers and toys along with them as the geared up for the the 1999 World Cup and the Federation was forward-thinking and funded childcare assistance for players like Joy Fawcett who had two children.
Carla Overbeck writes, As I look back, Joy and I were paving the way for future female players who wanted to have children and play on the national team. The soccer federation was accustomed to male players who could leave their wives and kids at home for months at a time, but as mothers we could not do that.
Heather O’Reilly‘s The Power of Self-Belief shares the moment in her career when self-belief was crucial and talks about how all players face adversity in one form or another — from injuries to sitting on the bench and on-field adversity, like the challenge of being down a goal. O’Reilly‘s believes fans watch the World Cup to see how players deal with tremendous adversity, and look for insights on how this can inspire them in their own lives. Her inspiring story begins when she was also a teenager.
Heather O’Reilly opens with I was doing homework when I got the call. It was April Heinrichs, the head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team. She was calling to invite me to play in a tournament in Portugal called the Algarve Cup. It was 2002, and I was seventeen years old.
I Couldn’t Be Prouder by Anson Dorrance shares his pride at coaching the Unites States Women’s National Team and that he needed to bring in younger girls to the roster if we wanted to compete in this first women’s World Cup.
“Hollywood’s” World Cup by Tony DiCicco is a great insight into the Women’s Soccer Royalty; Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, Carla Overbeck, Kristine Lilly and Mia Hamm and the incredible work of the USA squad. DiCicco coached from 1994 to 1999, during which time our USA women won an Olympic gold medal in 1996 and the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Inside the Women’s World Championship – Women’s Soccer Royalty – is a great celebration of the world of women’s soccer with a look to the past and the exciting future ahead.
A Great Read; summer at the beach or fall by the fire – make sure you read it. Get your copy here.
