Alex Morgan Speaks to Retirement, Tough Decisions Facing Only Female Athletes

In a video capturing her last days as a professional soccer player, she touched on the difficult choice that all women athletes face.

Alex Morgan / Brad Smith/Getty Images

Earlier this season, Alex Morgan retired from professional soccer. It was a decision the athlete described as “bittersweet.” She had, as she explained in a recent video shared by TOGETHXR, every desire to finish out the current National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season before hanging up her cleats.

But her second pregnancy put an end to those ambitions. It came as a surprise to Morgan, who already shares one daughter, Charlie, with her husband Servando Carrasco. And it entailed packing away her jersey sooner than she had intended. “Even though I’m so ready, it just feels so abrupt, and it’s emotional,” she explained of the decision. She was, after all, closing a chapter that had been open for so many years.

The decision in front of her—continue playing professionally or retire and focus on her family—wasn’t a novel one. Long before she was confronted with the choice, Morgan knew that the day would come when she would have to choose. “I knew that as a professional athlete there would [come] a time where yes I can keep playing, but do I want to grow my family? Yes,” she remarked. “I think every female athlete goes through that.”

That experience, according to the former U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) star, is a uniquely female one. “Finding out I was pregnant and, you know, my decision to retire at the end of the season and that being cut short, it was kind of an emotional rollercoaster,” she said. “It’s something that no male athlete has ever had to deal with when coming to the end of their career. And it’s different.”

Walking away from the pitch, Morgan anticipated the question, “What’s next?” As a female athlete dedicated to inspiring the next generation of players, dedicated to the “fight for equal pay” and “sports equity,” she has been building the foundation of “what’s next” for years.

Alex Morgan and Charlie Carrasco / Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Morgan is gearing up to have her second child. She is an active founder of her namesake foundation, the Alex Morgan Foundation. She is the cofounder of TOGETHXR, the female-led media company dedicated to highlighting female athletes’s stories. She remains a dedicated advocate for equal pay and sports equity. All of these ambitions were taking shape during her playing career. Now that she has retired, she only has more time to dedicate to her efforts.

And, if we know one thing, her efforts won’t be wasted.