Whatever It Takes | Alex Morgan, soccer icon

Alex Morgan is an icon not only in soccer but in all of sports. She absolutely dominated international and club play while also fighting for equity in women's sports. She recently had her jersey retired by the San Diego Wave for all of her accomplishments. I got to sit down with her one-on-one to talk about that moment and what life is like now after soccer. As Alex Morgan went to the podium to speak at her jersey retirement, the fans had something to say first. They chanted her name over and over again. She was given a standing ovation for everything she's accomplished. How cool was that moment for you? It was really special. When I came to San Diego I wanted to dig into the community. I wanted to help build the club from the ground up and I knew when I retired a goal of mine would be to be an owner, an investor, and stay committed to the club far after my playing career. So, just to have this honor given to me means everything and it was really special. In the San Diego Wave's inaugural season, Alex Morgan helped introduce the team with authority. She scored 15 goals in 17 games on her way to winning the National Women's Soccer League Golden Boot. The following season, Morgan helped the team win the NWSL Shield, given to the team with the best regular season record. She would end up stepping away from the game in 2024 with her second child on the way. Kira Caruso got to play with Morgan on the Wave. It's everything as an athlete and as a woman in the game to get to play alongside such a player like Alex and not only get to watch her but get to learn from her. At the international level, Morgan was a FIFA World Cup two-time champion, an Olympic gold medalist, an Olympic bronze medalist, and fifth all-time in USA Women's national team history for goal score. And throughout her playing career, she fought for women's equity in sports. Wave Director of Communications Megan O'Keefe says her legacy as a whole is why her jersey was retired. You've seen her use her platform for such good to fight for pay equality, to fight for more coverage of the sport. She means so much to the city of San Diego. She's from California. She's raising her kids here and so it's been so important for her to give back to this community and we've seen it just occur tenfold the way she has grown this game here and across the world. Nearly a year after her retirement and a couple of days after her jersey retirement, I sat down with Alex Morgan to talk about life now. Morgan is a minority owner of the Wave, invest in venture funds, and a few years ago co-founded a media company called Together that promotes women's sports. She also speaks at events on how soccer has helped her in the business world. I actually think there's a lot of things to take away from playing soccer or sport even if you played it as a kid, in college, or professionally. There's so much you could take away that helps with character building, that helps with you know closing a deal, or running a business, or leading a team, or your company to success. So I think there's a lot of things that I rely on and that I can share. I don't know it all. I'm coming into the business world later in life. I focus so much of my life on on the field really playing sports and so it's it's been really challenging but really fun as well. Her non-profit the Alex Morgan Foundation continues to create more equitable opportunities for women in sports and in their lives. That's really important for me and important for my kids to see as well. I want my daughter to have as much access as possible to playing sport, to being confident, and to using sport as a vehicle to accomplishing whatever she wants in life. Morgan first got into the business side of things and her non-profit while she was still playing. Now her mindset has shifted with her playing days I just think that I am giving myself like this space to go at my own pace and I think in soccer you had to go at one pace and that was like a million miles an hour. You had to like show up at training on time every single day and so of course I'm going to show up to the important things but right now the most important thing is my family so I want to make sure that I'm always prioritizing that. That was a big reason why you retired from soccer. You wanted to kind of get more into your family life. How has that been? How has it been really getting to fully focus on being a mom and being around your family? It's so wonderful. I have a five-year-old and six-month-old and it's so fun to be around them so much especially since retiring and since giving birth to my baby boy six months ago. I'm just absolutely loving it. It keeps the the days really busy but I wouldn't have it any other way. As family, charity, and business are at the forefront of what she does now, I asked her what excites her most about her future and while she isn't lacing up the cleats anymore to play, she still plans on making an impact in sports. There's so much going on and I think what is so great that I'm is that I'm still involved in sport in some capacity but I don't have to get out on the field and have the pressure of having to score the goals or win the games. I got to close the deals and I got to be a fan of my biggest teams especially the one here, San Diego Wave. I'm forever embedded in sport because of just my passion. I'm a fan of women's soccer. I'm a fan of sports in general so it's continuing to be a part of my daily life regardless.