Christine Sinclair's Battle To Make Soccer More Inclusive For Generations To Come | Going Deep

We're going to take one. That's how you know you're a big deal. Thank you for doing this. You bet. You just never want it to end. You want to watch Christine Sinclair play forever. Christine Sinclair, for so many years, the face of Canadian women's soccer. The best soccer player that that country has produced, male or female, hands down. Going through your story, I was struck at how different so many things would be, one, if you were doing the same thing but a man, and two, doing the same things but American. Do you kind of look at the path that you've had and say, like, gosh, this isn't fair? This isn't fair the amount of attention that our men's national team gets relative to what the women have gotten given our level of success? It's frustrating. First of all, I would never want to be the American version of me. But, yeah, you can't help but think, if I was a guy, what kind of life I'd have. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the life I've had. I've been very fortunate. But there's just no comparison, you know, right now between how a male athlete is treated and a female athlete. I mean, it's closing. The gap is closing. But it's very slow and a tedious process. But I get to help grow the game, which I think when I'm done playing will be the thing I'm most proud of. The dispute swirling around Canada soccer is playing out on the field in Florida this week. Canada's national women's team taking to the pitch in purple, a symbol of equality. To protest what they say is poor treatment by Soccer Canada. I saw you tweet about Fonza Davies getting royalties first. I'm still waiting for the CSA to contact me, just so everyone knows. When you first saw that, your first thought and reaction was what? Was probably what? Just because obviously I've been dealing with the CSA for years. And this was a topic that we have brought up in many contracts. And we were consistently told, no, no, it's not possible. No, it's not possible. I guess it's possible. So they're doing a little bit of backpedaling and hopefully things will change in the future. You really, at times, have spoken truth to power, have used your voice. Where did that come from? Did you have modeling that allowed you to feel so comfortable using your voice? No, not really. I think John Herdman was the first coach, the first person that kind of brought that out of me. Gave me a license to speak up. You know, he taught me that it's okay to be a leader that isn't like, That'll never be me. But to understand, he helped me understand the power of my voice and when to use it. You get to the national stage at such a young age. Who guided you at that point to help you transition? There were players on the team, your Andrea Neals, Charmaine Hoopers, that kind of took me under their wing and guided me through life on the national team, life traveling the world as a 16-year-old. Charmaine Hooper, for us, was Christine Sinclair before Christine Sinclair. Do you find yourself saying things to the young ones coming up now that they said to you? Yeah, 100%. Especially, I remember before my first game, I was so nervous. And they were like, you're here for a reason, just be yourself. And I find myself telling the young players on the national team about to play their first game, like, just be yourself, you'll be fine. We're all supporting you, you're here for a reason. I'm like, I've turned into them. But I think it's normal. As you reflect on your journey and your path, and trying to make it easier for those coming in your footsteps, do you feel optimistic about the plight of young female athletes coming up right now? Depends where they are from, sadly. You know, I think of right now, I think eventually we will have professional soccer in Canada. But right now, I still think players make the national team by chance, not by design. And you look in Europe, for instance, there's a pathway to the national team, there's a pathway to pro, there's a pathway to youth national teams, and then the senior team here in Canada. I still feel like a lot is up to chance. You happen to get seen when you played a good game and you scored a couple goals, or made some killer saves. Yeah, it's not quite set in place, but there's people working to make sure that it will be in the future. One of them is you. That's the plan.