Alex Morgan's final press conference | Full Press Conference

I feel like I did everything that I could have I left everything on the field um I did everything I ever wanted to do and more and with this decision I feel so at peace because I am ready to start a family I'm ready to hang up the boots and like allow the Next Generation to flourish and just Relish in the spotlight yeah I'm just I'm ready and it's it's a good feeling when you finally come to that libc news congratulations um to that point we talked to so many young girls here tonight and your own teammates you said you are literally the reason that they decided to pick up soccer what does that mean to you and what is your message to the next generation of women soccer players I think it's just so incredible to be able to see you know the 26,000 out here tonight and week in and week out just so many little girls little boys showing up and wanting to be the next Alex Morgan Naomi GMA Melanie barcz um you know they're creating a dream and a passion out of an inspiration out of watching you know this team the national team um the nwsl in general um so I'm really proud of the part I played and how it got to where it is today and how women's soccer is so accessible um nowadays and so my message to those young girls or boys um waiting for their turn is just to work hard and believe in yourself um you know I I look just to this game alone and in the 13 minutes I played there was a lot that happened um and stepping up to take the penalty um you know I came off the field and I thought to myself that's the best example I could give of betting on yourself because if I step up and take it yeah there's a chance I can miss that but if I don't step up and take that and bet on myself there's no chance I'll make it um so I think that's just how I've tried to live my life and my career as a soccer player and I mean you know it's it's itic ending and the way that it happened it's just having the confidence and courage to um believe in yourself and show everyone that we nevery about mat you are a leer what do you think about that because we don't have yeah being uh a working mom and and especially in sports um females who are moms and still want to pursue playing professional sports um is something that even growing up I didn't see and even as a professional soccer player was very um was very few um examples but I knew in my heart that I wanted to start my family grow my while still being a professional athlete I wanted to be able to do both um and I put I helped advocate for moms to get more support from um you know from their employer from nwl from US soccer um from their sponsors uh from um you know everyone around us because not only do we need as much support as we needed before we were a mom we need more we need more support um and more belief in us that we can um not only get back to where we were before but achieve even more um and so I think it's just you know I'm seeing more moms um coming back playing soccer and um elongating their career while starting a family and it's just incredible but it starts with the support it starts with the support of your employer of um you know your Co coaches teammates um everyone around you cuz you honestly can't do it alone you you can't like when people say it takes a village um to raise a child it literally like takes everyone because there are times you feel alone as a mom and that's one of the reasons that I started the Alex Morgan foundation and one of my pillars that I focus on is support for new moms um because I have been through and I understand just how incredibly difficult it was and I had the support of family and I was able to have the support of my employer and my sponsors and um and everyone around me but not everyone is fortunate enough um not only in the US but in other countries um in Latin America everywhere so I just want to try to continue to advocate for that I think just showing up every day and getting 1% better is something I will greatly Miss um I think you you have a you have a schedule you have a routine and you stick to that athletes are very habitual and superstitious and um and we you know try to look forward and not look back and um and so I'm you know I'm going to miss the little moments where I put in the work and you know it showed and sometimes sometimes you put in the work and it doesn't show you miss a penalty or you miss a shot or um you feel like you let your team down um but as long as you put in the work um I think that you can be proud of that and I feel like that's all I tried to do and that's I feel like what I'm really going to miss is like showing up every day and being like I'm going to learn something new today like I'm going to get better yeah I just want to congratulate chenade um on her retirement and incredible career um unfortunately there was a lot of things out of her control that um that prohibited her from um from playing for years but the fact that she came back was able to compete um on the international stage and um and do so um in a fashion that you know showed I think was just a tesate to character self-belief um the importance of player safety and what happened in 2021 um was a reckoning in the league and I I think that uh the growth we've seen in three years has far surpassed the growth that the endl had the previous eight years um it it's just incredible what you can do when you listen to players when you value players when you pay players um when players have autonomy over where they want to live and what team they want to play for um just the longevity of our careers um just grow with all of what I just named and chenade was a pivotal piece in that and so to share um our retirements on the same night uh is you know and I'm I'm honored to to be able to share um the same retirement date with her because um you know although we had very different Journeys um we fought for the same thing and the league is in a better place because of her let me try to get to the Sam Spencer go ahead ask Sam you're cutting out a little bit I might have you text can you send um your question via zoom and then we can ask it we'll take a couple more from the room Jackie yeah go ahead Alex congrats oner a lot ofs can Cate whether family [Music] orans around the world how do you hope for them to Cate you legac when it comes for just continuing to show up um fans uh just you know players putting on a good show and fans continuing to show up honestly I um I you know even though this wasn't the way that I planned to announce my retirement and finish my career within 72 hours or so um you know I'm I I didn't you know need to drag this out I I'm so happy with what I see um on the field every day with where I see the trajectory of women's soccer um just the opportunity um for for girls and women to play um at any age you know if you're good enough to play like doesn't matter the age you're good enough and I see that and I'm really happy with what I see so I think I yeah just just want fans to show up and um and know that you know the next Alex Morgan is not only out there in the you know fan in the stands because I'm sure that there are a few of those but they're there on that field like every single weekend and um it's it's just incredible uh what we've been able to do um here in the US to really give um just soccer the best uh the best chance for people to buy in as much as as we've all bought in um in the woso world we'll take two more right here and my next step in uh in soccer is to be a fan of the San Diego wave um but it's to continue to advocate for advocate for um um for players and it's to drive the standard of this club of the nwsl um it's to be a fan on the international stage um of the US Women's National Team and uh and more to come oh it's hard to think about one thing that stands out for him tonight um I think you know top of mind um is probably when I took off my boots and shinguards and I just actually took a moment to let everything soak in I saw my teammates I saw North Carolina I saw the fans and I think just understanding the gravity of the situation and the end of a very very long chapter or book um um it was a special moment um and I tried to do that all day today um I don't take in every moment um I haven't in the past so today it was important for me to be able to you know see people see everyone um understand um where we are and uh just realize all of the love and support that I've received since announcing my retirement um it was yeah that was a a special moment