Alex Morgan raising the standards, as a professional athlete and a mom
By Mark Carman
Alex Morgan is busy both playing the sport she loves and also using her platform to make the sport more equal for everyone.
Alex Morgan still loves playing soccer. In fact, it’s all she wants to do professionally.
“All I would love to do is play soccer and get paid and get paid fairly,” Morgan told FanSided.
Morgan is getting paid to play for the NWSL’s San Diego Wave this season — her third stop in the NWSL. So far the expansion Wave are 1-3-1 in the NWSL’s Challenge Cup with Morgan tallying three goals. The regular season is set to get underway May 1.
Morgan is also balancing being a Mom along with competing at the highest level. Her daughter Charlies turns two this May. Life on the road is… different. Call it the new professional athlete while being a Mom expectations frontier.
“When I bring my daughter, I also have to bring a nanny they also need seats on the flight food, hotel rooms,” Morgan said. “This is additional things that I think a lot of teams like aren’t used to seeing or paying for, you just don’t see it on the men’s side. So it’s, it’s definitely kind of paving a new path for female athletes to be moms and athletes and not have to put their families on hold until after their playing career.”
Morgan traveled without her daughter Charlie with the US Women’s National Team to the Tokyo 2021 Olympics coming away with a bronze medal. Charlie was 15 months old at the time. The 2023 World Cup will be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand. Morgan plans to be there to continue the success she has had both on the field and off fighting for equal pay.
“The most rewarding part is seeing a lot of the younger players come up and, and really just say thank you and show appreciation and just say how much it’s like meant that we’ve fought for them,” Morgan said.
Alex Morgan was been at the forefront of the battle for pay equity in sports
Morgan along with her teammates from the U.S. women’s national team reached a settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation this past February that guaranteed equal pay with the men’s team along with millions in back pay. It was the just end to a six-year battle that had many twists and turns. The $24 million settlement included $22 million to the players.
“When I think back to like being a young player on the national team, it was players like Abby, Wambach and Christie Rampone (Pearce) and Shannon box and many others that fought for me to have more than what they had,” Morgan said. That’s kind of been the sentiment of the US Women’s National Team, passing of the torch and leaving it a better place and when you came on into it.”
More support for moms playing professionally seems like a logical next step for Morgan in raising the off-the-field bar. The support to be able to do both is changing but has further to travel and Morgan will be joined in the near future by Crystal Dunn and then Julie Ertz as young moms who also play professional soccer.
“I want to be as supportive a person as possible and giving them advice or recommendations and kind of helping them and kind of the troubles that I saw,” Morgan said. “It’s definitely kind of paving a new path for female athletes to be moms and athletes and not have to put their families on hold until after their playing career.”
Sounds like a win-win for one and all.
Alex Morgan has partnered with BODYARMOR Sports Drink “One More” campaign.