Recently, I had the privilege to hear Abby Wambach, two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and all around epitome of #goals, speak at UF. She is the epitome of bada**, and here are just a few reasons why.
1. She’s a Gator for life.
She bleeds orange and blue, and even Gator chomped on multiple occasions at the event.
2. She uses others’ doubt as motivation.
When she was a student at UF, a professor told her that she had no future in soccer after college. During her talk at UF, she laughed and said “I hope you are in the audience, professor.”
3. She’s #BodyImageGoals.
She posed for ESPN’s Body Issue in 2012 and wanted to show off how being strong is beautiful. She also said that she believes all body types are beautiful in different ways, and it’s beautiful how everyone is made differently.
4. She is working toward equality for men and women in professional sports.
She has met with the FIFA president to discuss the dangers of AstroTurf (which women play on and men do not) and wage gaps in professional sports. When she spoke at UF, she said that women champions made 18 times less than the national World Cup men’s team. And not all women made money that played in the tournament, only the winners. She hopes to get more involved with FIFA upon her retirement.
5. She has great advice for people trying to achieve their dreams.
Wambach said, “We all have dreams and, if you’re out there and you have a dream and you want something — you want something so bad — you’ve got to risk everything. You’ve got to risk being completely devastated if you don’t achieve it, and when you fall down you’ve got to get back up.”
6. She prefers to lead by example and not judge other teammates.
At her talk, when asked about other players gaining negative attention for scandals, she simply said it’s not her job to judge or parent, and she prefers to lead by example. She just tries to be a good person.
7. She’s humble.
Wambach said, “Fame is not an easy thing. It’s a perspective. If you think you have fame, that’s where you go wrong.”
Thank you for representing Gator Nation so well, Abby. You’re incredible and an inspiration to us all.