To be honest with you, I never looked at soccer as a sacrifice. Brandi Chastain More Quotes by Brandi Chastain More Quotes From Brandi Chastain You're going to make mistakes in life. It's what you do after the mistakes that counts. Brandi Chastain motivation softball sports Never assume greatness is for someone else. Imagine every day that you too can do great things. Have the courage to take the challenge, make the mistakes, and move forward. Brandi Chastain greatness mistake moving And then ultimately what I tell the kids is: coaches can give you information, they can give you guidelines, and they can put you in a position. But the only person who can truly make you better is you. Brandi Chastain athlete motivational kids You have to be willing to accept the information, you have to be willing to work hard. You have to be motivated to go to practice with an open mind. You have to be willing to be criticized. Only you can do those things. Brandi Chastain hard-work practice thinking You'll be dedicated and that's what you should want to be in anything in life - whether it's sports or academics or your relationship. It all stems from finding that fun, that thrill, that excitement. Brandi Chastain thrill fun sports What I've really learned is to be open to listen to other people's opinions and then question my own thoughts. And learn how to talk to people. The biggest gift from having one of these moments is that it gets people talking. Brandi Chastain opinion talking people Conversation is good - you might not agree with everyone, but at least it gives you a chance to contemplate someone else's ideas. Brandi Chastain might giving ideas And to learn, you have to be willing to push yourself. Brandi Chastain push-yourself willing I think there are a lot of things that soccer does in the communities that transcend the soccer field. Brandi Chastain football soccer thinking Well there are two things: Number one is, make sure you always enjoy yourself, because when you enjoy yourself, you'll learn, you'll want more information, you'll push yourself. Brandi Chastain numbers sports two After the '96 Olympics, we all started believing that this is bigger than we thought, and we were willing to do the work. We knew that it was up to us, the players, to make soccer successful. Brandi Chastain soccer sports believe I'm loving motherhood. It's way harder than soccer, but I love a challenge. Brandi Chastain motherhood challenges soccer Soccer has given me a place to express myself, fully and openly. To not be shy. To feel. To be crazy. To try things I might not try. To be honest in relationships. To make mistakes and realize that they're not life-shattering. Brandi Chastain crazy mistake soccer You're just trying to be yourself, and for me, playing soccer is being myself. One day, you're one person on a team. The next thing people are asking your opinion about things you're not an expert on. Because they recognize you, they think you must know something about something - which isn't necessarily the case. Brandi Chastain being-yourself team soccer I was the kid who always liked to take the ball down to the school even in my free time, kick it against the wall, juggle it in the front yard and so it was kind of a perpetual state of playing soccer for me. Brandi Chastain wall soccer sports Julie, Mia and I just met for a couple days, doing some work but really under the guise of having fun. We do events like the Women's Sports Foundation Dinner, where we get to not only do a good thing for the community but we get to hang out with one another again. Brandi Chastain couple fun sports So along with that is spending a lot of time with the ball. For me it was, I loved to juggle the ball in my front yard, and I always challenged myself - how many juggles can I get today? I think for players to get better, it's just about spending the time. Brandi Chastain player sports thinking We are shaping young kids to be leaders in their communities and also to be healthier. Brandi Chastain community leader kids And I remember how proud I was to put on my training jersey and go out on the field. Making it back to that environment was for me my greatest moment, because somebody had told me I couldn't do it and I never gave up on myself, the game and my teammates. Brandi Chastain training games sports The "r" word [racism] is a scary word to me - I don't like to say it. I'm not trying to say it doesn't exist. It's incredibly inflammatory and invites a lot of awful mistakes and injustices that have happened and still do happen. It's a word that has been thrown around in a way that incites a lot of bad feelings in most people. Brandi Chastain racism mistake people
