And it’s not just about the Benjamins, notes her fellow USWNT member Megan Rapinoe.
“We are always having to qualify our accomplishments,” she explained to Glamour. “We always have to be like: Yes, we won, and we’re inspiring a generation, and we’re touring the country, and we’re social activists, and we’re really marketable, and, and, and!”
And yet they just keep on killing it, doing all of the above while giving engaging interviews, tending to various side hustles and changing the game for the generations that will follow.
As one of the most popular soccer players in the world, Rapinoe feels it’s her responsibility to keep kicking over barriers. “I think it comes a little bit with the territory,” she recently told E!. “It’s all with the focus of making the world a better place.”
That sound you hear? It’s us cheering at the top of our lungs.