 Hello! And thanks for joining us for this web chat about empowering women and girls through sports. I'm Lauren Gibson, a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State. This is the perfect time to have this conversation as we celebrate Women's History Month and get ready for the Women's World Cup in June. We're incredibly lucky to have with us today a very special guest, Alex Morgan, one of the stars of U.S. Soccer and co-captain of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team. Alex is a World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist. She is also a top player in the National Women's Soccer League as a forward for the Orlando Pride. Now, while she's one of the most recognizable names in the sport, Alex feels her most meaningful contribution off the field is her work in encouraging girls around the world to grab a soccer ball and join the game. Alex is a best-selling author of the Kicks book series, which she also turned into a television show. And many of you have just watched her film, Alex and Me. Alex and her teammate, Megan Rapinoe, were the first female players in the world to join Common Goal. They donate one percent of their salaries to organizations that use soccer to overcome social challenges. Through Common Goal, Alex directly supports John Bobokoba in Tanzania, which is working to improve health, education, and gender equality for girls. Alex hopes that these pursuits help inspire young girls everywhere, which she is also doing by being on this program today. Welcome, Alex. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here today with everyone. We're so happy that you're joining us today. We're also very happy to have with us today a group of youth athletes and educators at the American Corner in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, a country Alex visited as a sports envoy in 2017. We are also joined by a number of other watch parties around the globe. We'll be taking questions from you shortly. Those of you viewing online can ask questions by submitting them in the comment section next to the video player or by tweeting them using hashtag empower women. Alex will respond to your questions later in the program. Now, I'd like to quickly set the scene for this discussion. In many parts of the world, women and girls face challenges with equal access to sports. There are a number of factors including economic issues, societal and gender norms, and the lack of policies that ensure women have the same sports and educational opportunities. Despite this, it is encouraging to see women athletes find success on the world stage. It's also clear how increased participation in sports leads to women staying in school longer and provides them with important leadership and teamwork skills. Okay, let's get started. Alex, I'd like to first ask you to talk about your story, how you got into soccer and what some of the challenges were that you faced as a young girl learning the game. I got into soccer when I was about five years old and my two older sisters played, so I always wanted to do exactly what they were doing. So that's how I started that, but I found that I gained a lot of friendships through the sport of soccer. I gained a lot of things that I couldn't otherwise through school, like working towards a greater goal, you know, putting your selfish needs aside for the greater of the team. A lot of things that I just fell in love with, with the sport and just with sports in general. And once I kind of grew up a little bit more around the age of 10, I witnessed the 1999 US team win the Women's World Cup, and that was just incredible to see these group of women just totally captivate a country and a world and compete at the highest stage and be so successful. I knew then I wanted to be a professional soccer player and compete on that stage and possibly win a World Cup or an Olympic gold medal. So that was like my passion from when I was eight, nine, 10 years old, and I started with the US national team at 19 years old. We did not win the first World Cup that I played in, which was in 2011, we lost in the final to Japan. And in 2012, we went to London for the Olympics, and that's where we won the gold medal against Japan in the final. And then in 2015, we ended up playing Japan again in the World Cup and ended up winning five to two, which is a very uncommon soccer score. But we won in the final to finally win our first World Cup since 1999. And so that's my journey. And now we are looking forward to winning another, possibly and hopefully looking to win another World Cup this summer in France. But it's been a long journey and one that I've always dreamt of doing and now I'm living out my dreams. That's so cool. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'd like to ask you another question, though, about experiences. How did all of those experiences inform your role in the film, Alex and me? And can you talk about the themes of empowerment, leadership and role models that are explored in that great story? Yeah, Alex and me was one of my most fun opportunities that I got to do off the soccer field. I was introduced to this idea by the writer and the director, Eric Chempnella. And he has a daughter and was just so fascinated by his daughter's love for the game and the inspiration she drew from myself and my teammates. And so he ended up writing this movie and I thought it was a great idea. I loved being a part of it and I'd never been a part of the movie before. So it was something new for us all. And just getting to know the cast and the young girls that were a part of the movie and seeing it come to life when it finally was finished and came out on DVD and streaming live, streaming. It was incredible to see not only the young girls that loved the movie but the young boys that loved the movie too. Just seeing how many people really drew inspiration from it and really felt like they're in a similar situation where maybe their sibling casts a shadow on them or they feel like they aren't given the attention from their parents. And I feel like it is important to highlight those things because those are very realistic things in today's world. I have two older sisters and my parents were so supportive for all three of us but I think that having the support from my parents meant everything because it meant making me want to make them proud when I did anything when I was successful and seeking advice from them when I wasn't successful or when I had a failure in life and had to get myself back up and try again. So those are kind of the themes of the movie that I really loved and I think it's so important to have that support system whether that's your parents, your siblings, your friends, your teachers, your coaches finding that someone that really encourages you and believes in you as much as you believe in yourself is extremely important. Absolutely, absolutely. And I'd love to hear from you about your trip to Tanzania where you served as a sports envoy. What was that experience like and what were some things that stood out to you? I absolutely loved my trip to Tanzania. I went with my husband who was also a fellow professional soccer player and we started in Arusha. We then went to Dar Salam and finished in Zanzibar and we just met the most amazing people, the most amazing people. I went to try to lend a helping hand to give advice for girls and women in sports to learn as well but I feel like what ended up happening was I learned so much about their stories about how different people's upbringings are how different the respect for girls and women in sports is and how people all around the world are trying to increase the respect for girls and women in sports like we are respected here in the U.S. I just found it incredible to have meaningful conversations with the Zanzibar women's soccer team, as you guys have seen there with the Orcasewa School in that they have a co-ed soccer team and are very talented at that. I got to actually play a pickup soccer game with them. I just had such a great time and it was a once in a lifetime trip that I was able to learn so much and I hope to go back and continue to learn and continue to increase the growth of girls in sports and the respect of girls in sports also. That's fantastic. Let's go to our viewing group in Tanzania. Jeffrey Ladenson is the Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam. Hi, Jeffrey. So please introduce our group. So we have a wonderful group here of about 60 young women. We've just spent the last hour and a half or so watching Alex and me. A lot of laughs, a lot of farming and a lot of life lessons as well. Do you guys want to say hello to Alex? Hello. We do have some questions and I'm going to turn it over first to Janet. Hey, Alex. Hi, Janet. Hi, my name is Janet. I was fortunate enough to meet you when you came to Tanzania in December 2017 at JMK Park, if you remember. I just want to congratulate the U.S. Women's National Team for taking steps to empower women in sports, especially fighting for gender equality and soccer. And I just wanted to ask what are the issues, what are the steps that are taken to solve the gender equality issue that the women in soccer face and what advice do you have for soccer in Africa and what can they do to solve the gender equality issue too? Yeah, thank you for your question. For us, you know, we've been able to progress because of the support from our Federation, from the support of U.S. soccer, from the implementation of Title IX, which is actually creating equal scholarships and opportunity of men and women in the university. These are really important steps that we've taken. And as we've progressed, we have seen the inequalities, the gap of the inequalities closed, but not at the rate that we are happy with. We actually recently filed a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer Federation because we felt like it was important to really show those inequalities within the Federation of how we're getting treated and how the men are getting treated and how that should be an equally united front. When it comes to what can be done in Africa or Tanzania, I think that continuing to feel, continuing to be brave, you know, in your sport and continuing to fight for gender equality is always important. It's not always easy and it's actually not ever easy, but it is important. It is sometimes scary. And I think that when you have a group of women to support you or to do this together on a united front, I think that it's important to have strength in numbers. And so I think just having a group of women, rather than one, can, you know, can change more minds. But I think that if you see small progress, then you're going, then you're taking a step forward. Sometimes when you have the attention of people, you want to be able to grab hold of that. So when you do find that there are times where more people are paying attention, I would say to seize that moment and make the most of that and try to create as much awareness as you can in those moments with that sort of recognition. Thank you for that, Alex. Thank you for that great question, Janet. Daris Alam, do you have another question for us? We actually have so many, but we're going to turn it over to Hannah right now. Hello, Alex. My name is Hannah. And I watched the movie, Alex and me. I saw the girl got support from her parents, knowing our culture in Africa and Tanzania. Most of the girls at young age don't get the support from the parents. What do you have to say about it? And did you get your parents support when you first started it? I did get my parents support and I was very lucky to be able to, because in return I wanted to make them proud and I wanted to, you know, excel not only on the soccer field, but academically as well. I think it overall, you know, made me a better person knowing that my parents were supportive of me. I do know that it is difficult and that not all of parents, you know, do support girls, you know, in sports or in school. And I think that that's very difficult. I think that, you know, it can change, but it's not without resistance and without traditional thinking from parents. You know, I don't know that, you know, the answer to how we can change our parents' minds, but I think by giving, you know, by doing what you love, whether that's wanting to go to school, wanting to play sports, wanting to, you know, have a job when you grow up that goes against the norm of society is important to do. It's so important to do what you love because I think when you see, when your parents see what you naturally love, what you're happy doing, what your dreams are, and fulfilling those, I think it's very difficult for parents not to be supportive at that time. But I understand that it, you do go through a difficult time and I'm hopeful about the mindset of people can change in the traditional, in the traditional mindset. I'm very hopeful. And I think things like this can definitely help. And I think girls like you, you know, standing up for yourselves and standing up together is definitely important as well. Thanks for those excellent questions, Hannah and Janet. And thank you, Alex, so much for sharing. Now Tanzania, we'll return to you in a bit, but we'd like to take some questions from our other watch parties as well as online viewers. So here's our first question for you, Alex. What have you learned through soccer that you can apply to your life off the field? I've learned so much from soccer. I think that we don't, you know, as soccer players, we don't realize really how much the game has influenced us. I think that, you know, I'm very, I'm very good with time management. I'm very on time with things. I feel like I dedicate myself to things when I decide to do them. I'm 100% online. I think that I just have, you know, these sort of character traits that sports have given me, the structure that sports have in wanting to learn and teach and lead and at times not lead, at times, you know, be more of a learner. I think it's knowing those time, knowing when to apply that to your daily life from what I learned on the field is important and is something that I couldn't have learned otherwise. That's fantastic. And we have another question for you. Do you have any advice for girls and boys who are trying to overcome adversity in sports? Yes, I would say that, you know, failure, whether that's in sports in school or whatever is, you know, one important step in your life. And you need to have failures to enjoy the successes so much more. And so I would say not to take a failure as a end of the road, as the end of the road, I would take a failure as, you know, choosing to take a different direction and having to overcome something, whether that is, you know, a speed bump or climbing a wall. There's no such thing as, you know, stopping at the end of the road. There's always a new path. There's always a new door. And it creates, it creates, it's very difficult in one's life, but at the same time, that it's so important to then realize the successes and see your journey and enjoy the successes because you have been at the bottom and the top. And you can use that journey to encourage other people like you're doing now. We have another question from Zaza. It's a women's sports community in Israel that promotes and encourages women and girls to play sports. They would like to know what the most challenging thing was for you as a woman and how you overcame these challenges. Kind of similar to the last question. I think one of the most difficult things about being a female is always having to fight for equality is always having to tell people that I play a professional soccer. I don't have a second job. This is my job. This is my career. It's always trying to have a seat at the table. It's just making sure that it's always fighting for what we deserve. And I think that that becomes difficult, but at the same time, I'm not standing here today without the fight of the last generation fighting for us. And so my hope is that what I'm doing today, what I'm doing with my team by speaking out by using my platform to fight for gender equality and to fight for girls and women in sports is that the girls the next generation has so much more opportunity than me, is able to make a greater living than I am, is able to reach further in their career than I am because I feel like that's what the last generation was able to do for me. That's fantastic. But we do have another question from one of our viewers, and they want to know kind of along the lines of adversity, how do you deal with being objectified as a woman while proving that you're also a good enough athlete? Excuse me. Yeah, I think that that becomes difficult sometimes, but I think with the support of my teammates, with, you know, I know my true values and I know what I bring to the soccer field and I know who I am. And I think that, you know, listening to people that have no meaning in your life is kind of at the detriment of yourself. So for me, I surround myself with people who I love, who I trust, who will be honest and transparent with me. But at the end of the day, support me unconditionally, and those are the people that I put my faith in. That's fantastic. Now we have a lighter question from Ali, who's at the Lincoln Corner in Karachi, Pakistan. Who's your favorite soccer player? Hmm. Let's see. I have a lot of favorite soccer players, but I think Messi is, you know, the best in the game. He's just such a joy to watch. He plays for Barcelona and they just play beautiful soccer. I also really enjoy watching the MLS. My husband currently plays as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and he is such an outrageous soccer player and he's pretty fun to watch in the women's game. I always looked up to Ali Wambach. She was my teammate up front. We helped each other score so many goals and I always looked up to her. And let's see, my teammate Megan Rapinoe is also one that is just so much fun to watch. I just love playing on the same team with her. She is selfless. When she needs to be selfish, when she needs to be on the field and she's just really fun to watch and be around. That's so cool. We have another light question from our American corner in Tirana, Albania. What was your most impactful soccer experience? My most impactful soccer experience would be in 2012 standing up on the podium together to receive our gold medals. That was one of the most incredible experiences. That was winning my first gold medal with the team after losing in the final in 2011. So to get that redemption one year later was an incredible experience and being able to stand up together and sing the national anthem and have the gold medals around our neck was something I dreamt of as a child. And so living out my dream was just so amazing. So cool. I hope that you will keep submitting your questions for Alex in the comment section, everyone. But we're going to go back to the American corner in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam, do you have a couple more questions for Alex? Of course we do. We're ready. We have Hadrat right here. Hi. My name is Hadrat. I have a question for Alex. I want to know how does she balance her career of soccer and family matters in one time? How can she do that? How do I handle my career and family? Yes. Yes. Well, family is the most important to me. You know, it's more important than anything in my life. And I, you know, I'm not where I am today without the support of my family. They come and watch, you know, most of my games, all of the games that they can come to, they support me so much. And so for me, you know, as much as I can give time to my family, it's important whether that's when I fly into Los Angeles, or when I'm from to see them for two hours, or to spend as much time with them. When I do get the chance, they are just everything to me. They make me happy. It's where I feel the most comfortable, where I feel the most happy, and where I think I thrive the most as a person. So I try to, you know, do everything for my family, make them proud. And, you know, they just, they're everything to me. I try as much as I can to spend as much time as I can with them. Thank you, Alex. And thank you, Hadrat. To our colleagues in Tanzania, do you have another question for us? We do. And I'm so glad Alex mentioned happiness because we actually have happiness here to ask a question. Okay. Hi. In Tanzania, women and young girls, we fail to achieve what we want mostly because we are afraid to take risks. So my question is that what kind of sacrifices or risks have you taken for, for a World Cup? Yeah. I have taken a lot of sacrifices and along the lines of family, I haven't been able to, you know, see a lot of my family's greatest achievements and accomplishments because I have been with the team traveling around the world, competing and representing my country. I have, you know, spoken out, you know, and not known what the response was going to be on the front of gender equality. I have had injuries or been told by coaches when I was younger that I was not good enough and that I wouldn't make it. You know, as a professional soccer player, I've had injuries that have prevented me from playing at the time that have tried to hurt my future career. And all of those things have been difficult and I've been blocked in the road. But I feel like the confidence and belief that I had in myself was unwavering and the support for my family was extremely important in continuing me on the right path after taking a second to reflect. Thanks again, Alex. And thanks, Happiness, for that wonderful question. Now let's take a few more questions from our online viewers. We have Ali in Karachi, Pakistan, who asks, what's it like to play in the World Cup? Playing in the World Cup is one of the most incredible things. It's not often that you get to represent your country on the highest stage. And the World Cup is different than the Olympics in that you have 23 players together on one team and that is representing your entire country. It's a tournament where it focuses just on soccer or football. And that's incredible because I have, I really just, my entire life I have focused on the game of football and put so many efforts and sacrifices towards that. So being able to compete on the highest stage is like nothing else. I've been lucky enough to do that twice before. And I'm looking forward to, again, this summer in France. There's so much unpredictability in a World Cup. Sometimes the best team does win and sometimes the best team does not win. And all you can hope for is that you bring your best on the day when your team needs you. Absolutely. Now we have a question from Sama who wants to know what it feels like to be the face of the U.S. women's national soccer team. You know, I think that I'm one, but I think that there's also some other girls that are faces of the national team. I think we are fortunate in that the national team is very well recognized. We have gained popularity over the last five years or seven years or so. And it's been great to see the respect and recognition of women in football at the highest stage. I think sometimes it's difficult to have a lot of eyes on you. There's no question about that. And that's why I feel like it's so important that I keep my family close to me and that I depend on them to give me guidance and advice. Because there is so many other people, you know, trying to influence my life or trying to speak their opinions online or on social media. There's also media that love to, you know, boost your successes, but also share when you're having failures. And I think that that's different for confidence. So for me, it's all about continuing to seek guidance from my family and trusting in those that I love. That's wonderful. Now, we have a Valerie from Ukraine wanted me to first say hi to you and to just let you know that you motivate her so much. But she does have a question. Valerie would like to ask you who or what motivates you to achieve? Who or what motivates me to achieve? You know, I think that always wanting to get better and having that competitiveness in myself is very important. Having, you know, achieved a World Cup title in Olympic gold medal is amazing, but I have bigger dreams than that. I have more than that. I also want to be fulfilled in other ways off of the field. I think it's really important to stand up for what you believe in. I have a husband that is extremely supportive of me. And I think that he is someone that I look to to help me in times and to kind of help guide me and push me along in times. That's very important as well. Thank you. Now you had an opportunity to talk about how you balance your family and your sports. Osman from Islamabad would like to know how you manage your studies and your sports at the same time. Luckily, I do not have to study anymore at this moment. I did get my degree from, I got my bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in California. And that was very difficult to be a full-time student and a full-time soccer player. That was when I started playing with the national team as well. I actually graduated six months early because I anticipated going to the World Cup and wanted to make sure that I could focus 100% on soccer. And now I'm very happy being a full-time soccer player. But the only studying I would say that I do is studying the game of soccer. Absolutely. Now you talked a lot about teamwork and the importance of teamwork. Adi and Israel has a follow-up question. Adi would like to know what you do to maintain a good relationship and that great cooperation with your teammates, especially when things are kind of stressful during the season. I think it's so important to create friendships off of the field. And I don't think that you have to be best friends with everyone on your team. But I think understanding each other and their backgrounds and that everyone comes from a different background is important. And just learning more about them, who their family is, do they have siblings, what motivates them, what encourages them, who is their support system. These are really important things off the field that I think kind of help you with that on-field chemistry. And then I think on the field it's definitely just consistency. It's being selfless enough to give your all for the team and giving your all means, playing the role that you need to play in order to have the success on the team. Soccer is a team sport and you have to know that your successes are shared by everyone else and sometimes everyone else lifts you up with their successes. You do it all together. And it has to be all or nothing. For sure. Now you talked about your support system, your family and your community. Pina and Bolivia would like to know what you say to people that encourage women to maintain traditional gender and family roles rather than play sports. That's an issue that they're facing. Absolutely. Yeah, I think that is very difficult. And that is what is happening around the world. And I think that it is changing slowly. I think we're seeing progress. I looked at the Afghanistan women's soccer team and they are one that has been fighting for years now just to be able to play competitive games. I think that you have to take slow steps. But I think raising awareness is one of the most important things. Having those traditional views is going to take a long time to unwind those. Those are decades and centuries of thinking that needs to change. And so with that, I think there's a level of patience and then there's a level of pushing. And I think creating awareness is one of the most important things. A lot of the work that we do as a team is just talking about it, is getting it in front of people so they understand the inequalities. They really see that the inequalities are unjust and unfair. Before you can do something, you just need to make sure people understand it, are aware of it and it's in the back of their minds a little bit more. Now continuing in that vein, thank you for your answer. Lydia from the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa notes that right now men's soccer is a bit more famous than women's. How do you suggest we change that? You have to look at men's sports and the fact that men have always been respected in sports and women have not. And so I think that we have a lot of catching up to do. Some countries are closer in gender equality in sports than others. But I think that the history of men's sports go back so much further than women in sports. So I think you have to realize the small gains and appreciate those small gains. Absolutely. We have another question from Sarah. She's at the Monrovia Football Academy in Liberia. What would you say to a girl who's been denied an opportunity to play soccer because she's a woman? I mean, I think that that's not right. You know, that's, it's, it is the way, it is definitely the way that it works, you know, some places around the world. And I'm a true believer of equality in sports. And I think that women have so much to give in sports. And I also think that women can learn so much from sports, can take away so much to apply to their life from sports. And I would say to continue to fight for inclusion of girls and women in sports. And appreciate the small gains, but work towards, you know, greater goal and, and find, you know, find people that share that common ground and unite together. And, and like I said before, you know, try to create awareness of those inequalities. Yes, absolutely. Now, Alex, you're a role model to many, many people around the world. I mean, you touched upon your role models a little bit earlier, but could you talk a little bit more about the people you looked up to as you were growing up and what you found about them that was really special? Yeah, I looked up to a lot of female soccer players. I looked up to also a Billie Jean King who played tennis and decided to change the way things were because things weren't changing at the rate that she thought was fast enough. And so this is a tennis player who decided to create their own tennis league and go against the tennis association by playing their own matches, by having their own sponsor, by, you know, proving that they are valuable, that people do respect them and it just was the people in charge that did it. She did so much for not only tennis, but women's sports in the U.S. And that tennis is one of the only sports globally to have the same win bonus from the men's and the women's side in the major tournaments. That's something that we look at for inspiration within women's football. And she is also someone who advocated for Title IX, which is giving equal opportunity to men and women at the university to play sport and to get a scholarship. That was one of the ways that I continue to move along my journey in playing professional soccer and was a very important part of my journey. So I think that I have a lot to thank to Billie Jean King. It's so encouraging to hear about your story and about your role models. We are actually unfortunately down to the final question. The American Corner in Tirana, Albania would like to know what you're planning to do after you retire. I hope that it's quite a few years until I retire. So I'm not looking, you know, at that as much right now, especially leading into a World Cup. But I think it's important to continue to fight for the inclusion of girls and women in sports. I would love to help grow the game. And in that, what I mean by that is potentially going around the world and speaking with federations and associations all around the world to help develop girls academies to kind of invest in the youth on the girls side as much as they probably do now on the boys side. And the hope is that when you start investing in the youth level that as they grow, it becomes more of the norm and it becomes something where girls and boys are respected in sports equally. Yes. That's so exciting. Now, like I mentioned, unfortunately, it looks like we're almost out of time, but I'd like to thank everyone so much for these fantastic questions. We have really covered a lot of ground today, and hopefully those of you watching will continue to engage on this important topic. Now, Alex, before we close, do you have any final thoughts to share? I just want to say thank you so much, Jeff, for making this happen. I had so much fun and learned so much when I was on my trip with you in Tanzania. Thank you to all the girls that are watching today. It really means so much. And I hope that I was able to share some advice with you that you could apply. I hope that you continue to fight for a seat at the table and for inclusion of girls and women in sports. I just thank you so much for tuning in and, Jeff, do you have anything, any last remarks or anything? Well, we actually all have a comment for you. You guys ready? Alright, one, two, three. Thank you so much. Thank you, Alex, and thank you for joining us and all the best to you and to Cervando as well. Thank you. Bye, you guys. Wonderful. In closing, I'd like to thank you, Alex, for joining us for this important discussion and for sharing your valued insights and inspiration. Hopefully this program can serve as a vital piece in the continuing conversation on equality in sports and education in Africa and around the world. A big shout out as well for the excellent questions from our online viewers, the audience at the American Corner in Tanzania, and two other live viewing groups at Embassy Abuja, Nigeria, Embassy and American Center Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, American Corners' Jima, Ambahirdar, Ethiopia, Embassy Kartoum, Sudan, American Center Kampala, Uganda, American Corner Kaminji, Burundi, American Corner Kigali, Rwanda, the Monrovia Football Academy in Liberia, American Center Moscow, Russia, American Corner Tirana, Albania, American Corners in Budapest, Hungary, American Corner Pristina, Kosovo, Windows on America, Ukraine, Mission Turkey, Mission Kuwait, Embassy Islamabad, and the U.S. Consulate General Karachi in Pakistan. Thanks again for taking part in this discussion. Bye.