I think there are a lot of things that soccer does in the communities that transcend the soccer field.
From Brandi Chastain
I was a part of Backyard Soccer, and I hear that I score a lot of goals in it.
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.
I went to professional men's soccer games, the old North American soccer league at that time, and I used to be a ticket holder with my family and family friends. We would go every weekend and I thought it was great, but I just thought of it as recreation, as family fun.
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.
My parents and my grandfather on my mom's side would travel the earth. They went to Australia and China, and they went to probably every soccer game I ever played.
Number one, it was a chance to thank my parents, because they passed away a couple of years ago. They gave me so much by giving me the opportunity to play soccer, and I wanted to share the story we had together.
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.
So I'm still doing my best to stay in shape and hope that opportunity will come back to me.
The thing I can say about Japan is they were progressive for a country that is very male dominant.
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