Dear Hope:

My goodness, you are one accomplished athlete. If theres one job I wouldnt want in all of sports, its goalie. Yall are courageous, almost eerily agile, and lets just say it, a little crazy. Who in their right mind signs up for a job where soccer balls are rocketing at them? I bow to your fire.

But even given the element of rogue it takes to stand between the pipes, this little sideshow youve got going smack dab in the middle of the Olympics is disturbing. Dashing off Tweets ripping commentator and former United States soccer player Brandi Chastain for giving critical commentary on the current teams defense? For doing her job? (Its not cheerleader just sayin). Dissing her opinion because the game has changed from a decade ago when she played?

Whoa.

Let me tell you, Hope, if you think Brandi Chastain is so yesterday, now youre going to deal with me. Just call me The Day Before Yesterday. Back in another life, I was a sports journalist writing about the likes of Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers. In the 90s I was watching them blaze a trail for, yes, the likes of you. Did you not catch that Dare to Dream documentary on HBO? Its all spelled out right there.

The fact that the sport has reached a point where were even having this discussion is heartening. The ascension of womens soccer is only going to continue to open doors for more people who can aspire to be players, coaches, referees and, of course, commentators. For Chastain to have any credibility in her position, I can guarantee she has to regularly fight any urge she has to show emotion when the U.S. team scores or stops the opposition.

Its kind of like watching Rebecca Lobo when shes on the sidelines of a University of Connecticut basketball game. You know she wants the Huskies to win on some level, but her job is to get interviews with both teams, to be as objective as possible, to see the game unfolding and use her expertise to enlighten us a bit.

Do you get that?

Im here to life coach you, so I want you to first understand all Ive just said. One, you stand on the shoulders of those before you, including Chastain, and two, her job is to tell a mostly soccer-savvy audience what she sees. You just turned 31. Surely you get that this isnt personal. And that there are high school players and younger who will have you to thank one day.

What they get to see when youre not sending offensive knee-jerk Tweets (I also refer, of course, to your 2010 Twitter rampage) is a vibrant, bright, elite athlete with something valuable to say.

See the original post here:
Life Coaching U.S. Goalie Hope Solo